


Sunshine

by okapifeathers (giratinas)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Awkward Romance, BDSM, F/M, Identity Reveal, Sexual Content, Slow Burn, pre-reveal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-19
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-05-28 18:46:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 46,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6340996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giratinas/pseuds/okapifeathers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrien feels a little warmer than usual when he looks at Marinette today. It's probably just the summer heat, nothing to worry about. Right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Marinette Wears a Shirt

**Author's Note:**

> A self-indulgent story about two awkward people who are so awkward around each other that it literally creates sexual tension. Primarily Adrien/Marinette with some Ladybug/Chat Noir thrown in. Maybe Ladrien. If you're here for Marichat, you'll find your satisfaction elsewhere most likely.
> 
> I watch the series in French but I will borrow from the English dub from time to time. I started writing this before Jackady aired, so Lila doesn't exist. Maybe later.
> 
> Thanks to my friend caswella here on Ao3 for being my wonderful editor. Find me on Tumblr as okapifeathers.

Adrien Agreste was in somewhat of a chipper mood as he carefully stepped out of the glistening white limo, mindful of his outfit and a stoic looking Nathalie watching him from the corner of her eye. Today was new and different, and part of him wanted to explode in excitement at the prospect of his first real summer with friends. It was the last day of class before break and Paris felt hot and almost dreamlike in a good way, with thin white clouds drifting slowly across the clear and open blue skies, illuminated by the warm rays of the sun. Today was happiness personified, and there was no way anything could ruin it.

Then again, Adrien wasn’t exactly known for his good luck.

“You have a photoshoot right after school today, please try not to be late.” Nathalie said from inside the shady interior of the limo, “it’s the new line of swimwear, so you’d better be wearing sunscreen right now. I know you don’t like spray tans but we’re going to give you one if you manage to burn yourself.”

“Yes, Nathalie, thank you. I’m wearing some, I didn’t forget,” Adrien droned.

“We’ll be waiting outside at 4:30 sharp, don’t be late.”

“Of course.”

Adrien hadn’t even turned around to look at her as she spoke, and he didn’t move until he heard the click of the door being shut and the quiet rev of the engine as the limo pulled out and away from the school.

For the next few hours, he could let his responsibilities blow away in the warm and calming breeze as he chattered with his friends. He could see it now, making plans with Nino to go to late night concerts, heading to Juleka’s house for a pool party, staying up late playing Mecha Striker III with Max online, and going shopping with Alya and Marinette. Well, mostly Alya, Marinette still carried with her a seemingly incurable stutter and stayed silent more often than not when they were at the mall. Maybe he could figure out what was up with that this summer, too.

Breaking away from his thoughts, Adrien adjusted his pink button down shirt and double checked that his white shorts were still crisp and clean before walking towards the front doors of the school, the grin on his face unmatched by anyone else he saw on his way in.

 

\---

 

Everything was terrible and he wanted to leave immediately. The second he had walked through the classroom door, Adrien had been bombarded by one very loud and very pushy Chloé Bourgeois. She was clad in tiny shorts and a light top, the glasses that usually rested on her head folded and hanging from the front of her shirt, and her arms were absolutely all over him.

“Adrikins!” She shouted as her lips lunged for his cheek. “You look fab today! Is that a new shirt? You know, I think you’d look much better in yellow and-”

“Hey Chlo, thanks but I really just want to sit down, okay?”

Adrien peeled her arm from where it had settled on his waist after freeing his hand from hers. He gave her an awkward grin as he removed his bag from his shoulder and headed towards his seat. Nino, who had been watching his unfortunate encounter with Chloé from his desk, gave him a sympathetic nod as he sat down. Chloé had, of course, followed closely behind him, and she quickly made herself at home, perched on the edge of Adrien’s desk without even once ceasing her endless chatter. The strong scent of fruity and flowery perfume hovered in the air around her, and it made Adrien’s stomach churn a little. It never used to bother him much before, but becoming friends with Plagg had changed a lot about the way he was.

“So what did you want to do this summer?” She started, “I was thinking we could go on our own little getaway to Venice, it’s so romantic there don’t you think? Or you could take me to London and we could go on a shopping spree! It’s been so long since we’ve gone shopping and I really need the Agreste discount, you know?”

Adrien carefully formulated a reply in his head, and in that instant he realized he was nervous about saying ‘no’ to her proposal. He’d been friends with Chloé for so long that he’d never got into the habit of telling her anything else besides ‘yes’ and ‘I guess so’, and having no other friends besides her for his entire homeschool career hadn’t given him many options in the way of spending his summers. Not to mention Chloé definitely did _not_ need any discounts.

“A-actually, I kind of wanted to stay in Paris this year. Change it up, you know?” He offered nervously..

Chloé frowned before giving him an almost thoughtful look.

“Of course, We can just stay home and relax at the pool on top of the hotel. You know I look great in a bikini, and I’m sure we’ll look even better together,” she said as she leaned back on the desk, pushing her chest up. She pursed her lips in a strange display of… something, and tried to find Adrien’s eyes with her own.

“Well, I mean… we can do that if you want I guess, but I want to hang out with Nino and everyone else too. We’ll have to pick a day, okay?”

 _No_ ! Just say _no_! Why was it so hard for him to say that one simple word? He momentarily cursed his ingrained politeness as he tried to convince himself that hanging out with Chloé wouldn’t be a completely painful experience, but he didn’t even believe himself. Why was he so stupid? He was the stupidest person to ever live. No. Two letters. What was he supposed to say? Should he tell Chloé that he just wanted to sit at home with friends and watch anime all day? No, she’d invite herself. Stupid, so stupid.

Chloé was pouting and he wanted to curl up in the corner. Momentarily ignoring her, he turned towards Nino in an attempt to ask for backup, but found him thoroughly engaged in conversation with one Alya Cesaire, his almost-but-not-really-girlfriend, as he liked to put it. They were talking animatedly about something Ladyblog related and Adrien silently cursed his timing.

Chloé was getting impatient. “Adrien? What are you doing, I’m talking to you, you know…”

But Adrien had already tuned her out. Standing timidly behind Alya and near to the door was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, smiling brightly and eavesdropping on her best friend’s conversation. He’d seen her walk through that door dozens of times by now, but this time it was different, this time he absolutely could not look away.

It wasn’t often he found himself staring at girls that weren’t Ladybug (in fact, he’d never stared at anyone _but_ Ladybug) but oh my god what is Marinette wearing and why does she look so absolutely wonderful? Cute and very small dark wash jean shorts hugged her hips and ended high on her thighs, perfectly fitted and revealing just enough to catch his eye. But her top, her _top._ A form fitting and very red turtleneck crop top started just above her bellybutton, letting her flawless pale skin peek through above her shorts. His gaze traveled to her arms, bare and out in the open, reminding him that he’d never seen the skin beneath her usual deep gray blazer. Had her arms always been so… toned? He tried to look at her glowing white arms, but he just couldn’t help but take in her top once again. Red. red with deep black and tantalizing spots. Just like a ladybug. And just as he realized he’d literally been ogling his classmate, her eyes finally found his.

 _If there is a god may he strike me down right now_ , he thought. He wanted nothing more than to die in this very moment. _Please let me vanish into the void._

Piercing blue eyes bored into his and he was reminded of the brilliant shades in the summer sky he’d seen only minutes before. He tried to steady his breathing, which he’d noticed had become somewhat erratic in the last fifteen seconds or so. It’s okay, don’t worry, Marinette will do what she always does every time they look at each other and turn around or leave the room or do something strange and then he’d be free from this awkward and confusing hell.

But she didn’t. For the first time ever since he had known her, Marinette did not turn away with a flushed face and an unidentifiable noise. Instead, she stared right back into his pale green eyes and returned his appreciation. He could almost feel her looking him up and down, first at his pale shirt and then traveling down his front, button by button until the rest of his upper half disappeared beneath the desk.

From where she was standing, she could see a hint of his clean white shorts and she made no attempt to hide that she was looking for more as she slowly and deliberately rose up on her toes. Moments ago he’d been trying to stop himself from breathing too quickly and loudly, and now he found himself unable to breathe at all. He was completely frozen as she quite obviously checked him out. It wasn’t often that he wore something different, after all.

But then. _Then_. Her eyes locked with his once more, and he saw her glistening pink lips begin to move. He felt his jaw loosening and drifting downward as she poked a sliver of red tongue out from between the lips he’d only just discovered, and she slowly, _agonizingly_ slowly swept her tongue from one side to the other. This was it. This was the end of Adrien Agreste.

She smiled at him.

His brain suddenly rushed back to his head from it’s subconscious journey down below his tan belt as Chloé snapped her fingers in front of his face. Just like that, the living daydream was over and Marinette, still grinning as if she hadn’t just given him a once over, turned her attention back to Nino and Alya.

“Were you even listening? Adrien!”

“No,” he said. “I mean, what? Who?”

Chloé crossed her arms. “I don’t know what’s up with you but I’ll just call you after school and we’ll make plans, okay? I need to go make sure Sabrina finished my final paper.” She hopped off his desk and made her way across the aisle to her own desk, settling down beside the red-headed girl.

Adrien brought his hands up to rub at his eyes. _Get ahold of yourself, you stupid cat._ Whatever had just happened between him and Marinette was weirdly intense and he didn’t know if he was supposed to acknowledge it or not. Part of him wanted to her to wear that top every day for the rest of eternity and the other part wanted her to go home and take it off immediately. And put something else on, of course! Yeah, put something else on. Take off the ladybug top.

He wanted to hit something, but instead of making an idiot of himself for the second time in less than ten minutes, he resolved to look directly ahead at the board and not at Marinette as she began to walk towards him from the door. No, not towards him, towards her desk, she sits behind you remember? Even as she passed in front of him, hips swaying gently and almost with purpose, he dared not look anywhere else but directly forward. Good, she was walking past him, keep going, please sit down, please don’t look at me.

When he didn’t hear her take her seat, he went rigid, shoulders square and posture as perfect as it usually was when he was in public. He took a moment to gather himself before slowly turning his gaze toward Marinette, who had stopped at the end of his desk and was now looking down at him, still sporting that happy go lucky smile of hers. She put her one free hand on his desk, still clutching her signature bag with the other, and leaned ever so slightly forward until he couldn’t help but look once more upon her spotted little number. Finally, his eyes met with hers again, and there was no awkwardness about her face whatsoever as she opened her mouth.

“Pink is my favourite colour,” she said. “It looks good on you.”

And she was gone, sitting down at her desk behind his head as if the world hadn’t flipped upside down and inside out only minutes ago. He felt heat bubble below his stomach as he quickly turned back to face the front of the classroom. The sun had nothing on him right now.

Two fingers tapped the desk beside him as Mme Bustier walked into the classroom, and Adrien turned towards Nino, hoping to hell and back that his face wasn’t as red as it felt.

Nino was staring at him as if to say _what was that?_ And all Adrien could do was shrug and wave his hand. _It was nothing._

It was everything. Marinette was sitting behind him. Marinette was checking him out. He was… checking Marinette out? He desperately searched his brain for his favourite mental image of his one and only Ladybug in an effort to stop thinking about the girl behind him. Ladybug, you like Ladybug. You stare at Ladybug. You stare at Marinette.

Adrien, in all of his shyness and somewhat less visible awkwardness, has no idea how to deal with encounters he doesn’t initiate. So he does the absolute best thing he can think of in the moment: He stands up and leaves.

“Washroom,” he says.

And finally, he escapes.

 

\---

 

As soon as the lunch break bell sounded, Marinette got up and walked out of the classroom as fast as she could without running. Alya was up in a flash and out the door behind her after waving at Nino and an oddly still Adrien.

“Marinette, where are you going? We were gonna eat lunch with Nino and Adrien!”

“Kill me,” she said, without slowing down. Alya could only roll her eyes as she followed Marinette down the stairs and out through the front doors of the school. They barely even stopped to make sure the crosswalk was clear before making a run for the bakery door. The bell on the door jingled as Marinette stepped into the sweet smelling shop, and she gave Sabine a tiny wave before walking through the back and up to her apartment. Alya faithfully followed, saying nothing until they were in the safety of Marinette’s room.

“What are we doing, Marinette?”

“I’m changing. I’m stupid and I’m changing.”

Alya’s eyes grew wide. “What? Were you even looking at Adrien when you were talking to him? Dude was red from head to toe!”

Marinette struggled to peel the tight fitting shirt up and over her head before throwing it to the floor under her desk. She adjusted the straps of her powder pink bra before turning to face Alya with a huff.

“He probably hates me. That was the awkwardest ten minutes of my entire life, Alya, and it’s your fault!”

Alya lifted her hands and gestured to herself. “My fault? Girl you wanted my advice, and I gave it to you! You promised me that this would be the year you actually did something about your crazy stalker crush. _You_ agreed to wear whatever I picked out for you!”

“Well I wasn’t expecting this! I felt like I was barely wearing anything. It was just as bad as what Chloé was wearing.”

“Are you blind?” Alya questioned. “He was staring at you for like five minutes, he didn’t even bat an eye when Chloé threw herself all over him. She was even sitting on his desk, and he was looking at you the whole time!”

Marinette turned around and began rummaging through her now open clothing chest for her usual white tee. “He probably thinks I’m crazy,” she said, matter-of-factly.

“You don’t think he liked what he saw?”

“I don’t know what to think! I felt ridiculous. ‘Pink is my favourite colour?’ Who says that! Why would he even care!”

Alya sighed as her palm met her face, eyelids drooping as she watched Marinette throw on her white shirt and wiggle out of her tight shorts.

“You’re hopeless, you know that?”

And really, she was. Marinette had felt utterly lost that morning as she stood in the doorway, eyes locked with handsome and perfect Adrien Agreste. Alya, ever the expert on interaction between two people, had told her exactly what she’d needed to say and do. She’d reluctantly put on the outfit that had been picked out for her, and had tried to cross the street back to the bakery twice before Alya had all but dragged her into the school. The only way she’d even managed to hold herself together was by pretending her spotted top was her actual Ladybug suit, something that for some reason gave her enough courage to spit out real, coherent words in front of Adrien.

And when she’d sat down behind him, she’d still felt like a complete moron. And yet, she had promised Alya that she was going to do something about it. About Adrien.

“I can’t do it. Alya, I can’t do it!” she shouted as she buttoned the front of her pixie cut pants.

Alya sighed and sat down on Marinette’s chaise, head still in her hands.

“Well,” Alya began, “you have to do something. You can’t keep stuttering or just saying nothing at all every time we go out as a group. You need to find confidence somewhere, even the tiniest shred would do you a world of good. I thought you nailed it, honestly! He couldn’t look away.”

Marinette sighed. Being head over heels for someone she could barely talk to was starting to take it’s toll, and the added embarrassment that still lingered from their encounter in class was only sending her mind into even more of a frenzy. Her desire to make any kind of lasting impression on Adrien fought with her flirtatious ineptitude and she had no idea which side she wanted to win. If she could just suddenly stop liking him so much right in this immediate moment, then she might feel a little bit better. Before she could open her mouth to mope a bit more at Alya, her mother had called them both down to the kitchen for lunch.

As they ate in relative silence, Marinette came to the horrific realization that she would have to go back to school in less than an hour and sit down behind Adrien as if nothing had happened that morning that made her go home and change her entire outfit. She nearly choked on her tuna sandwich as she tried to imagine having to lock eyes with his for the second time that day, and she chugged her entire glass of water while struggling not to think about the disappointing words that were bound to come out of his mouth.

Alya was being subjected to yet another one of Marinette’s internal conflicts as she watched her friend’s eyes dart absently around after she put the glass down. Rolling her eyes, she resolved that she was just going to have to deal with her best friend’s infernal stuttering and inability to function whenever she was within five feet of a certain golden-haired prettyboy. Alya was fairly certain that Marinette would rather take her crush to her grave than actually attempt to resolve anything on her own, but this attempt at actually helping her out might have done nothing more than dash any of the progress they’d made thus far. But Alya was so very sure that it had worked.

Marinette didn’t even notice when the table lightly vibrated as Alya’s phone alerted her to an incoming text.

**[Nino]**

“ _alya i think marinette broke my best friend_ ”

Alya smirked to herself as she slipped the phone into her back pocket. She’d have to catch up with Nino later.

 

\---

 

“So, wanna tell me what was up with you and Marinette this morning?”

Adrien slumped forward in his seat, elbows resting on the table and a slim hand propping up his chin as he watched Nino eat a gigantic slice of cheese pizza. Nino hadn’t stopped bothering him about it since Alya had scrambled out the classroom door after Marinette, and even a bribe of pizza and a promise to shut up and never speak of it again wasn’t enough to silence him.

“Nothing. There’s nothing going on, Nino.”

“Are you sure? I mean I know you’re a lonely sheltered homeschool child, but the way you were staring at her was definitely _not_ rated ‘E for Everyone’. Do you like her?”

Adrien’s eyes widened as he spluttered out a “no” followed by a “yes” and then a suspiciously non-Adrien sound.

“I mean, I like her, she’s nice and we’re friends, but I’m not interested in her that way, okay?” He clarified. He bit the inside of his cheek as Nino sent him a questionable look.

“Okay dude, if you say so.”

Adrien had no idea why he’d been unable to look away from Marinette if he was going to be honest with himself. He tried so very hard to chalk it up to her shirt reminding him of his lady, but he saw people all over Paris in different articles of ladybug themed clothing and never had he once given them a second look. The hotness he’d felt in his cheeks had, however, not been entirely new to him and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to make any connections between the first time it had happened and that morning.

The last time he’d been absolutely unable to look away from anyone or anything was his first meeting with Ladybug. It was during that very same meeting that he’d realized he was a complete and utter sap, telling her she had stars in her eyes and that she moved across the Parisian skyline like a swan across a glimmering lake. He’d tried to be less corny since then, but alas, some habits were much harder to break than others.

In a way he felt like he’d somehow betrayed Ladybug. How dare he stare at anyone other than her like that? But outside of his much more cheerful fantasy they really had no obligations to each other, and he was technically free to do and look at whoever he wished. But still.

Watching Nino lick the runny cheese off his plate, Adrien resolved to forget about the situation entirely. He was sure it was just a one-off thing. He was probably just taken by surprise, since Marinette didn’t usually wear anything as revealing as what she’d had on. It was hot and sticky and gross outside, of course she’d want to wear a bit less than usual.

As he and Nino started making their way back to the school from the Pizzeria, he brushed all of his thoughts under the rug at the back of his mind, the same rug where all of his other insecurities went to die when he no longer allowed himself to think about them anymore.

He did look good in pink, though. That was something he could agree with.

 

\---

 

Alya gave him a funny look when he and Nino walked through the door and sat down at their desks. Adrien ignored it in favour of searching the room for Marinette, daring himself to gaze at her once more as if to prove that what had happened between them hadn’t meant anything to him and they were just friends and everything was fine and Marinette was just being Marinette. When he couldn’t find her, he felt a strange mix of relief and disappointment for a fleeting moment before he heard a loud bang come from the direction of the door.

And there she was, clutching her arm and forcing a smile onto her face as if she hadn’t just slammed her elbow into the doorframe.

But where was the ladybug top?

Marinette shrunk a little under the gaze of her classmates, who had begun to stare in her general direction after hearing the metallic clang of bone against metal door lining. No doubt she was wondering if anyone was looking her way because of her change in attire, but she tried to brush the thought aside as she hurried around the front of Adrien and Nino’s desk and sat down with a soft ‘plop’.

Before his brain could catch up with his body, Adrien had turned around in his chair to face a lightly blushing Marinette.

“Where’s your ladybug shirt?” he asked.

Marinette’s face turned a brilliant shade of red and she let out a meek gurgle before responding.

“I drinked a spill - I mean I spill-spilled my drink on it! Yeah. I had to go home and change, silly me right?” She replied before gracing Adrien with the most nervous laugh that had ever escaped from between her lips.

_Don’t say it, Adrien. Don’t do it._

“I like it. you should wear it more often.”

_Fuck fuck shit what is wrong with you why did you do that what the fuck._

Before he could mentally murder himself any further, he turned his attention back to the front of the room. For the second time that day, he wanted to die.

He couldn’t bring himself to look at Marinette for the remaining few hours of class.


	2. Marinette Buys a Swimsuit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It begins. For reference, I plan to update maybe twice a week. I stay about four chapters ahead in terms of writing.

Avoiding Adrien in the last gathering of the school year had been a lot easier than she thought. Marinette had quickly moved from conversation to conversation amongst her classmates who were gathered in the bright and airy courtyard, making plans and subtly inching away from Adrien every time he got close enough that she could smell his cologne. She’d managed to keep her shit together long enough to accept the inevitable invitation to Juleka’s first pool party of the summer, along with an offer from Max to attend an all-night Mecha Striker III marathon.

Alya had been trying to act like Marinette hadn’t nearly flung herself in front of a car rather than face the shy Agreste boy, but she wasn’t about to give up. She had to keep fighting the good fight. For Marinette.

And that was how a poor stuttering Marinette found herself involved in the planning of an excursion to the mall on the weekend. A shopping trip hadn’t sounded so bad when Alya had mentioned needing a new swimsuit for the upcoming pool party, but then she’d invited Nino, who in turn had invited Adrien before she could even consider backing out. At that point it was too late, her fate was sealed. She was going swimsuit shopping with fabulous fashion model Adrien Agreste. Not that she’d never been shopping with him before, but scoping out swimwear was different. It was only one step away from underwear shopping, and that was the moment her photographic memory activated and graced her mental plane of vision with the picture of Adrien modelling Agreste brand boxer briefs that she had taped to the wall beside her bed.

She’d gone completely still then, staring into nothingness and barely making a sound as Alya’s hand found its way to her back, guiding her away from the courtyard and across the street to her apartment. She vaguely recalled Adrien waving goodbye to her.

The rest of her day had been uneventful and she’d tried hard to concentrate on anything but the burning feeling in her cheeks. She’d felt that way all day and at this point she was considering taking a cold shower despite the implications of such a thing. She could always blame the actual heat though, and the fan she’d brought up to her room and placed on her desk wasn’t doing much in the way of keeping her room cool.

 

\---

 

Night time in Paris was the dull rumble of cars and gentle lights shimmering in the dark, office workers staying later than they ought to and sirens blaring on and off in the far off distance. It was cooler than usual tonight, a sharp contrast to the hot and muggy daytime brought about in the early summer. The Eiffel Tower was lit up from top to bottom, a gleaming beacon framed by the skyscrapers beyond and complemented by the lamplights in the garden below it.

The night was their hideaway, their home away from home. A place they could go to let loose their inhibitions and forget their ordinary lives, if only for an hour or two. It was like a secret, a secret they shared with the entire world.

It was also when Ladybug found the time to either pick on Chat or speak her heart to him, and tonight it was going to be the latter.

“Have you ever made a huge dumb idiot of yourself, Chat?” Ladybug asked. She was sitting on the roof of an old apartment building, legs dangling carefully over the edge and a content Chat Noir perched beside her on all fours.

The soft glow of the moon illuminated one side of his mask as he considered her question, looking almost thoughtful despite his playful smirk.

“Oh, all the time. If only I were as collected and graceful as my Lady. Alas!” He sighed, sweeping one leather gloved hand across his forehead dramatically.

“I’m serious! I had a really weird day, like, it’s almost as if I can’t believe I’m actually Ladybug. If you somehow know me outside the mask you’d never in a million years guess I’m me. That’s how...strangely my day went.” She crossed her ankles together. “That’s how most of my days are, really.”

Chat Noir moved from his perching position until he sat on the ledge of the roof alongside her, close enough that their thighs were touching.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” he asked.

Ladybug turned to face him, slitted cat eyes looking into hers with a hint of curiosity.

“No, I’m okay. I’ll be fine in a few days, really. I just feel a little stupid.”

“Nonsense!” Chat cried dramatically. “Blasphemy! My Lady is the smartest girl I know. Even if you don’t want to tell me what happened, I can assure you that you’ll figure it out. You always do.” he said confidently. He tapped his claws on the rough concrete before tracing aimless designs at his side. The wind picked up a little, brushing his hair back and forth across his masked face. “I have some stuff to figure out myself, but for now I think we should just enjoy the view, don’t you?”

Ladybug let out a quiet giggle and turned her head away from Chat’s to look out over the city. The light pollution drowned out the stars, but Paris was glowing well enough on its own. She didn’t need to turn back towards him to know he was definitely still looking at her. In an attempt to avoid the ancient cliche, she chose to say nothing in response and instead stood up, her leg brushing against Chat’s arm as she rose.

“Have you ever liked a person so much that you wish you didn’t like them?”

“Of course not. I can’t imagine not thinking about you every waking moment, Bugaboo.”

“I’m not joking, Chat! I was a mess today.” She absent mindedly removed her yo-yo from her hip and began playing with the string. “I’ll probably be a mess all summer knowing my friends. It’s so easy for some people, I don’t know why this is so impossible for me.”

There was a friendly silence between them as Chat thought about what he should say. On one paw, it was a little bit awkward to listen to his closest companion talk about her interest in someone else when he was so enamored with her himself, but on the other paw he wanted to do everything he could to help her feel better.

“Do you ever talk to this guy, or do you just admire him from afar?” he asked.

“I try to talk to him almost every day but I can barely get out more than two words. It’s like my brain just shuts off and I stop functioning. Sometimes it’s okay but I get so nervous at the worst times for no reason!” Her tiny hands had clenched into cute little fists, yo-yo still gripped tightly and slightly unwound.

She suddenly flung her hands up above her head, her weapon hanging down and swaying gently near Chat’s face. “Why must I suffer in this way, Chat?”

Chat had wanted to listen to her in that moment, he really did, but the yo-yo was right there. It was right in front of him and it was going back and forth in the most tantalizing way, and he felt a sudden urge to make it stop. His pupils tracked the movement slowly and carefully, and he felt his hand raise up ever so slightly from where it had rested beside him. His cat ears twitched a little in anticipation, the briefest of magically fueled movements. He absolutely could not look away from the yo-yo, it was all that mattered right now.

He blinked as slowly as he could, eyes big and open as wide as he could force them. He had to get it. If he had it, then it would stop moving, right? Easy now, don’t let it get too far away. Let it come closer, just a tiny bit. Don’t let it out of your sight. Get ready, and….

Snap!

Ladybug retracted the yo-yo into the palm of her hand. “Are you listening? I’ve been talking for the last five minutes and you haven’t even made a pun.” She put her hands on her hips and peered down at him.

He shook his head and took in the world around him as his tunnel vision came to a screeching halt. “Who? What?”

Ladybug grinned and shook her head. Asking him if he’d ever made a huge dumb idiot of himself was probably more of a rhetorical question at this point. And yet, she had to admit he was a pretty adorable idiot. In a totally platonic way, of course. Definitely platonic.

Chat’s attention was back on her now, and she felt an itch in her feet and a warmth in her heart.

“Wanna go for a run, Kitty?”

Chat cracked his knuckles before smoothly rising to his feet. The gentle wind ruffled his hair in just the right way and he flashed her his very best cat-like grin.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

It wasn’t long before Ladybug’s worries had escaped into the night, the exhilaration of launching herself across the sky taking over each of her senses. Chat Noir leapt across rooftops next to her, wild and free and filled with his usual enthusiasm for the late hours. After racing each other to their usual patrol landmarks, they parted ways at the Eiffel tower and Chat wished her a lovely night and sweet dreams. Ladybug tried to carry that notion with her all the way home and into her bed, but she’d still tossed and turned for what seemed like hours before she even felt tired enough to close her eyes. She was going swimsuit shopping with Adrien Agreste.

 

\---

 

By the time the weekend rolled around, Marinette had snapped out of her constant state of mortification and was back to her more chipper self. Alya had called to wake her up and remind her that they were going to the mall, and she’d only just finished deliberating over which outfit she should wear.

‘Let Alya choose my clothes’ had swiftly moved up to the top of her list of things she should never let happen again, right above ‘use pigeon feathers to make fashion’, but below ‘leaving a framed picture of Adrien out in the open when he comes to visit’.

Shorts and a tank top. Boring, but safe.

She’d come downstairs into the bakery to find Alya and Nino sharing cookies with a content looking Adrien, the baked goods no doubt having been complimentary from her mother. Marinette had told them all good morning, even Adrien, and that was enough to make her feel like she could get through the day without retreating into herself.

“Good morning, honey!” Sabine smiled.

“Hey Maman, we’re going now, thanks bye!”

Sabine was a fussy mother at heart. She was mother to an only child, and she needed to take care of said child in the way only a mother knows how. It wasn’t as if she tried to embarrass her daughter on purpose, but Marinette was easily flustered in front of others, especially the young man that graced her walls. She walked out from behind the till and brushed Marinette’s bangs out of her face.

“Maman, my hair is fine.”

Sabine grabbed Marinette’s arms and held them up. “Have you got sunscreen on? Moisturizer? You burn so easily, Marinette.”

Marinette turned a little red and looked over her shoulder to her friends. Alya was just smirking, Nino offered a wave and Adrien looked… well, he had a peculiar expression on. He was smiling, though.

“Maman, I’ll be fine. We’re just going to the mall.”

“Stay hydrated,” Sabine chided. “You need new bras too, dear, don’t forget.”

“Maman, please!” Marinette begged, even redder than before. She could hear Alya slap Nino’s shoulder as he snickered.

Sabine grabbed her daughter’s shoulders and sidestepped her, and Marinette just looked at the ground, willing the colour in her face to disappear.

“Hello Alya, how are you?”

“I’m good, thanks Mrs. Cheng.”

“And you, Nino?”

“Never better!” He said, giving her a thumbs up.

Sabine stopped in front of Adrien and looked him up and down. “It’s nice to see you again Adrien, how have you been?”

Adrien smiled, happy that she’d remembered him. It was a rare occurrence to be asked how he was doing, but it was nice to hear from time to time. “I’m great, Mrs. Cheng. Looking forward to summer vacation.”

Sabine nodded, satisfied with his reply.

“Maman, please…” Marinette whispered from behind her mother.

“I hope you’re wearing sunscreen too, Adrien. You’re almost as pale as my daughter, and she burns faster than anyone I’ve ever known!”

Adrien chuckled, and reassured her that he was definitely prepared for the sun. He wasn’t allowed the leave the mansion before taking all the necessary precautions anyway. It was part of the model package deal.

Marinette was more eager to leave than she had ever been in her life, and she grabbed Alya and Nino’s arms before stomping towards the bakery door.

“We’re going right now, we have to leave, goodbye.”

Adrien and Sabine shared a look, and Adrien shrugged before following his friends out the door.

Adrien, Alya, and Nino  were already sweating from their walk to her apartment, and it wasn’t long before she was suffering the same fate, uselessly fanning herself with a warm hand. She’d mostly made small talk with Alya on the way to the mall, Adrien and Nino trailing behind them and discussing something about a TV show.

The cool air conditioning of the indoors was a welcome change, and it wasn’t long before Alya found the swimwear store on the map. Nino and Alya had struck up a conversation, leaving Marinette to trail behind them but not exactly beside her golden-haired companion.

The mall was filled with the buzzing and chatter of Parisians eager to escape the heat of the outdoors, but despite the hustle and bustle around them, Adrien remained quiet. She expected him to at least say something to her, anything at all, but when she’d continued on in silence for more than a few minutes, she decided to be brave and initiate small talk herself. Turning to look at Adrien, she noticed that he was completely preoccupied with staring at nearly every store they walked past, slowing down every time they passed by a display window with an interested tilt of his head.

“Uh, Adrien? Did you want to stop and look somewhere, because we have all day, you know.”

He turned his head to look at her and replied as they kept walking. “I’ve never been to this mall before, or really any normal malls. I’ve only gone to _Avenue Montaigne_ and stuff like that”.

Of course. Adrien was rich and has dad was a stuffy billionaire. Why would Gabriel Agreste, world renowned fashion designer, take his son anywhere near a mall? The mall was for peasants, and if she was a peasant, Adrien was definitely the Prince. Cheesy-ness aside, Marinette almost regretted opening her mouth at all, because she definitely didn’t want to make Adrien uncomfortable and she knew he didn’t like talking about money.

Lost in thought, Marinette noticed a little too late that her friends had stopped in front of the store they were looking for, leaving her to wander past them. She turned a little bit red as she ran back the way she’d come, much to the amusement of a giggling Alya. Her friend grabbed her arm and all but ran into the store ahead of the boys, who shared a chuckle of their own before following.

It was wall-to-wall swimwear of every conceivable style and Marinette had no idea where to begin. Luckily (or unluckily in this particular situation) Alya knew exactly what she was looking for, and Marinette already knew she would have to talk her friend out of making her try on bikinis.

While she’d done her best to explain it to her best friend before, having to talk to both Nino and _Adrien_ of all people about her very suspicious level of fitness was not on her list of things to do. Alya had never known her before the start of the last school year, so convincing her that lifting bags of flour and kneading dough was enough to make her totally ripped wasn’t completely impossible. At least the ladybug crop top had covered her abs enough to hide them, but she’d never really considered swimwear. She had to hide her mysteriously toned body. She _had_ to.

“Actually, Alya,” Marinette began as her friend pulled tiny little top after tiny little top from the racks, “I think I’d prefer a one-piece swimsuit maybe? Something less… revealing.”

Marinette’s pointer fingers came together timidly. Alya stopped what she was doing and looked at her as if she had just revealed her secret identity.

“What?! Are you crazy? I know what’s under that shirt and there is no way you aren’t putting on a show for Adrien -”

“Shhh, stop Alya!” Marinette glanced around, noting that Nino and Adrien had found their way across the store to the men’s section. She could feel her teeth grinding against each other as she grabbed Alya by the shoulders and looked her directly in the eye. “I don’t want to show off for anyone. I just want to go swimming. Let me have this.”

It was a tense few seconds before Alya caved and nodded, hanging half an arm’s worth of bikini tops back on the rack. She selected a few more for herself to try on before looping one arm through Marinette’s and heading in the direction of the much safer one-piece section. Marinette let out the quietest sigh of relief of her life before thanking Alya and the powers that be for sparing her from a fate definitely worse than death.

It was only a few minutes before Marinette was going through a rack of soft pink swimsuits with Alya looking over her shoulder. She wasn’t too picky for someone that prefered to make all of her own clothes, and settled on something simple and light pink, with a very adorable little white bow at the bottom of the neckline. When she revealed her choice, Alya showed her appreciation with an enthusiastic thumbs up, then unceremoniously dragged her towards the changing rooms. After directing Marinette to stay put, she disappeared through a changing room door with an armful of colourful swimming apparel. As Marinette stood and waiting politely for her friend to emerge, Adrien and Nino made their way over to her with their purchases already in bags.

At least thirty minutes later, the three friends had already seen Alya in more than ten different bikinis, and it was clear that at that point Nino was the only one encouraging her to try on more. Alya was somehow incredibly comfortable flirting with Nino in public, even with barely anything on. Marinette silently willed herself to imagine flirting that way with Adrien, but her brain wouldn’t let her get far enough to even imagine herself stepping out of the changing room in front of him.  

Alya emerged from the changing room a final time, having made her decision and taunting Nino, refusing to tell him which one she had chosen. It wasn’t long before Marinette felt her friend’s soft brown eyes staring in her direction, and she swallowed before reaching to grab the soft pink swimsuit she had selected from Alya’s outstretched hand.

“Ah ah ah! Hang on one second Marinette.”

“Alya…”

Marinette hadn’t notice Alya’s other arm behind her back, and barely registered her voice as she was told that maybe she needed a little bit of help choosing which swimsuit to try on first, what do you think Adrien? From behind Alya’s back emerged a small, barely there pink and white spotted bikini. There was no time to take in the irony of yet another ladybug patterned article of clothing being suggested to her, she needed to mentally write her will and arrange her own funeral before she ascended into the beyond.

 _‘Oh my god, not again,’_ was a single thought shared between both Marinette and Adrien, though for very, very different reasons.

“So, Adrien,” Alya began as she held the two articles of clothing up triumphantly. “Which one should she try on first?”

A thousand images of Ladybug wearing the cute little bikini barraged his mental vision relentlessly. He had never seen her skin below her suit, but he had no problem filling in the gaps on his own. Soft curves, legs for days, his hands on her newly revealed hips and her eyes drawing him into their bluebell abyss. It was everything he’d ever wanted since the day Ladybug had fallen out of the sky into his waiting arms. What seemed like hours of regurgitated and slightly risque fantasies of his partner in crime had actually passed him by in milliseconds, and back in the real world Alya had barely finished her sentence before he’d turned to look Marinette directly in the eye and raised his hand to point.

“That one.”

Her eyes went wide and Alya’s mouth had silently dropped open. Bluebell eyes. Marinette has really pretty eyes… wait.

Adrien realized in that moment what he had done, what he had insinuated just by pointing at a bikini that reminded him of Ladybug - looking Marinette in the eyes, no less. He was preparing to shout out as many apologies as humanly possible, but stopped when Marinette narrowed her gaze at him and stared back. Again.

“Okay.” She said. “That one.”

She took the bikini from Alya’s still outstretched arm before vanishing into the changing room without another word. The silence was so thick he felt it would suffocate him, and he felt a little on edge after witnessing Alya’s gigantic and slightly frightening grin. He was even more confused when Alya and Nino exchanged a high five, and he couldn’t resist the urge to tilt his head curiously to the side.

Adrien heard the click of the changing room door before he saw it open, and when he finally laid his gaze upon Marinette, he struggled to remind himself that it was his own fault that this was happening to him. He should have kept his mouth shut. Or maybe...not.

He had expected a little bit of soft pale skin, the full package deal of what he’d seen peeking out from below her crop top earlier that week. This was something else entirely.

Marinette was totally ripped, and she was standing there in front of him like it was the most insignificant little detail in the world. Marinette looked like that under her clothes, and she sat behind him every day in class for an entire year. He wasn’t wrong to make a note of her extra toned looking arms when he’d seen them before. She was something else.

“You okay there, buddy?”

He felt Nino’s hand push his lower jaw back into place, and Alya giggled as she recalled a similar situation happening in a certain park in the not-so-distant past.

Marinette smiled sweetly, innocently, and said she’d made her decision, and just like that she was gone, vanishing back into the changing room as if she hadn’t punched Adrien directly in the heart. He didn’t even try to convince himself to think of Ladybug, he was absolutely fine with having that image of Marinette burned permanently into his brain for the rest of his life. He couldn’t get over how great she looked in spots either, but he supposed that was just an added bonus for him, a personal preference if you will.

He remembered seeing Marinette pay for her new outfit, Alya hugging her, everyone going to the food court for a late lunch, and he remembered saying goodbye to Marinette at the bakery, and then goodbye to Alya and Nino as they stopped by the Agreste mansion. His vision had been clouded and blurry, but he remembered.

When he went to bed that night, he decided that just this once he wouldn’t let himself feel guilty for thinking about his kind and sweet friend and her super amazing out-of-this-world body. Just this once, he would think about his hands gliding across her muscular middle, up and down her arms and tangling in her deep dark hair. Just this once, he would let himself shiver in anticipation of seeing her again at the pool party, of seeing her lounging on a sunchair with shimmering droplets of water running down her endless legs. Just this once, he would go to sleep without thinking about Ladybug lying beneath him.

Just this once.


	3. Marinette Digs Her Grave

Adrien was going to be late and Plagg was being increasingly unkind. The kwami had barely kept his mouth shut in the days following The Swimsuit Incident, and bribery had only kept him at bay long enough for Adrien to sweep the vivid memory of Marinette in a small bikini under his favourite metaphorical rug. His small dark furred companion refused to let him forget that he’d momentarily confused Marinette for Ladybug despite the fact that Adrien was definitely over it. He definitely was.

At present, Plagg was lounging happily at the bottom of the garbage can under Adrien’s desk with a fresh full wheel of camembert. Adrien himself had been lying facedown on his bed for the last thirty minutes or so. He was going to be late, and he was okay with that.

“You can stop brooding now, you know,” Plagg muttered from the trash.

Adrien sighed into his pillow. “I’m not brooding! I’m just thinking.”

“About Marinette.”

“No!” He’d shouted, his fists bunching up the fabric of his pillow on either side of his head. “Yes. Maybe.”

Having finished his snack, Plagg floated up and out of the garbage bin and came to rest atop his blond charge’s head. In a strange reversal of roles, the tiny black cat gave his human a few sympathetic pats with his fingerless paws. Adrien struggled to not appreciate the gesture, but his plans were foiled as he sensed another Plagg Life Lesson bursting forth to kick him right in the ass. He needed it from time to time, he supposed.

“I’m over five thousand years old, you know,” Plagg began.

“Yes, you’re a very old man. A very tiny grumpy old man.”

“Hey, I don’t look a day over five hundred! Anyway, my youthful looks aren’t as important as my advice. I’ve had to deal with so many brooding young kittens over the years, you have no idea what I’ve been through! But I know what’s going on here,” Plagg’s voice trailed off as he began patting Adrien’s head again. Said boy was still face down on his pillow, arms laying limply at his sides.

“Mfmf,” Adrien said.

“You like Marinette! Problem solved.”

Plagg was flung cartwheeling from his perch as Adrien launched himself from the surface of his bed with his hands. He flipped himself over and glared at Plagg with as much Chat Noir intensity as he could muster without his suit.

“I don’t! How many times do I have to tell you that I’m in love with Ladybug?”

“I’d prefer if you never told me, but you won’t shut up about her, you weirdo,” Plagg muttered as he righted himself in the air.

Adrien huffed as he settled to sit on his bed, a faint redness spreading across his cheeks.

“I’m not weird, you’re weird.”

“You sniffed Ladybug one time!”

“Yeah, one time!”

“It’s not impossible for you to be in love with Ladybug and still like Marinette, you know. You humans are so emotional all the time, it’s a miracle you don’t fall ears over tail for anyone you talk to.”

There was a soft groan as Adrien rolled his eyes. “I’m a _model_ , I’ve been surrounded by half naked women for most of my feeble career. Nobody’s ever stood out to me until I met Ladybug, she’s just incredible, Plagg. It’s all about personality for me.”

The kwami snickered. “Yeah, I’m sure Marinette’s _personality_ is all you think about after you turn out the lights.”

“Plagg!”

There was a muffled yelp as Adrien’s pillow collided with Plagg’s face, followed by an exasperated sigh as Adrien moved to lay down again. He closed his eyes. Plagg was right of course, albeit a bit forward. Marinette was nice to talk to, nice to look at, and her fierceness at school reminded him of his lovely Lady. They also shared the same overwhelming desire to act before thinking from time to time (or at least Ladybug acted before telling, he definitely had the bruises to prove it).

He’d talked with Nino before about potential love interests, and while Adrien had remained steadfast in his adoration for his dark haired partner, Nino had shown no shame as he’d talked about what he preferred in women, what his type was like. That was before he’d began to semi-date Alya, of course. Maybe Adrien had a type too.

His phone buzzed from his bedside table, ringing out a J-pop tune he’d be a little embarrassed about had he not been alone. He answered, and flung himself from the bed after hearing Nino’s voice and remembering he had somewhere to be.

Plagg swiftly made himself at home in Adrien’s front pocket. Having no reason to bring his bag, he slipped his wallet and his phone into the back pocket of his shorts before running from his room and sliding down the railing of the grand staircase.

“Nathalie, I’m going out!” He shouted. He paused at the door, remembering to turn off the ringer on his phone before double checking to see if his dad was glaring at him from anywhere in the foyer. The coast was clear though, and he was safe to head out into the hot white heat of the summer. It was time for his very first picnic in the park.

 

\---

 

It hadn’t taken very long for Adrien to ditch his bodyguard, though nowadays he was pretty sure the Gorilla was sympathetic to his desires for freedom and let him escape on purpose. It wasn’t the first time he’d told a few white lies before finding his way into the Paris metro system. While they’d normally meet up at the park near the school, the desire for open grassy hills and calm, cool lakes had convinced everyone to make the trip out to Parc des Buttes Chaumont. As Chat Noir, he’d seen the Temple de la Sibylle peaking out from amongst the trees on his patrols, but he’d never gone out of his way to actually check it out. He’d definitely never gone that far from home as his unmasked self before.

The excitement was almost overwhelming and his leg nearly vibrated as his foot tapped the floor of the train. He knew it was a little odd to be as enthusiastic as he was, but his grin still stretched from ear to ear as he considered that this outing was only the beginning. He’d gone from shy bumbling idiot to a well-liked friend that got invited to just about everything in the span of a school year, and he thanked the powers that be as often as he could.

A brief moment of embarrassment plagued his thoughts as he remembered his first roll-call. At the very least, he was a fast learner.

One exciting metro ride later, Adrien found himself strolling out of the metro towards the park, the blue sky clear and crisp above him and the sun shining. The air itself held an almost comforting warmth, not quite unbearable but enough to make him sweat in a good way. By the time his feet hit the grass, his back was already a little bit slick and he felt the urge to kick his designer sandals into the bushes so he could feel the cool green blades between his toes.

It didn’t take him long to find his friends. Nino had pointed and waved from the blanket spread out beneath the shade of a huge tree, calling his name and grinning like an idiot. Marinette and Alya turned to wave from beside him, and he saw Alix and Kim stop kicking around a soccer ball long enough to smile his way. Nathanael sat with his sketchbook beside Rose and Juleka under their own tree, and everyone else was down by the lake, dipping their feet in the cool waters and lounging in the sun. Even Sabrina was there, Adrien noted, but no Chloé. She was more suited for beaches, and otherwise disliked the heat messing with her makeup.

_My friends_.

_They’re all my friends._

He made his way over the the blanket beneath the giant tree and decided to sit cross legged next to Marinette. She was curiously smiling at him as if he had descended from heaven into the park instead of taking the underground train like a normal person. She should smile like that more often, really.

Plates of sandwiches, cookies, pastries, and more were spread across the blanket, and if it were possible, he’d smiled even wider when Alya handed him a plate and told him to dig in. No doubt Marinette’s parents had been behind the delicious spread, her family was so kind, especially when it came to food.

“Nino here,” Alya began, lightly punching said boy on the shoulder, “was just telling us about your lackluster picnic in the park resume. You’ve really never done this before?”

Adrien shook his head as he munched on a cucumber sandwich. “Nope, never.”

Nino gave him a serious look.

“Dude, we have to pretend like this is our last day ever, the last park visit we’ll ever have before we die tomorrow.” He put his hand on Adrien’s shoulder. “For your sake.”

Marinette giggled from beside Adrien.

“That’s a little extreme, don’t you think? We came here to relax, not to dig our graves.”

“Bury me next to Alya!” Nino shouted. “I can’t go another day without her, in this life or the next!”

There was a loud smack as Alya hit the back of Nino’s head with her palm. “I don’t want your stinky old coffin anywhere near mine, bubble-boy. Lay me to rest beside my dear Marinette!” She cried dramatically.

Adrien’s hand met Marinette’s sleeveless shoulder.

“Hey now, Nino already called you, I call Marinette. We’re going to be the best grave buddies ever.”

“Sorry,” she said. “I don’t plan on kicking the bucket anytime soon.”

“That’s fine, I’ll go first. I need to be buried with a thousand of your handmade croissants, you’ll need to be alive to make them.”

“A thousand?” She asked. “Isn’t that a bit much?”

His expression changed from goofy to serious in a matter of seconds.

“Marinette, I’m going to be dead for the rest of eternity. How will I survive without your baking for that long?”

“What do you mean survive? You’ll already be dead, you ding dong.”

Adrien clutched at his shirt above his heart and pouted.

“You’re gonna kill me, Mari! I’ll die because of you.”

“You’re such a drama queen.”

Adrien fell backwards until his head hit the grass, hand still clutching at his shirt above his heart.

“Here lies Adrien Agreste, fabulous and charming fashion model, died of a broken heart. Forever separated from his glorious croissants by a cruel mistress. May he rest in pastries!”

Marinette burst out laughing at that, struggling to tell him how terrible he was between her tiny gasps for air. For the first time since he’d sat down next to her, Adrien really, truly looked at Marinette as she laughed at his terrible joke. A cute blue sundress that matched the sharp colour of her eyes, hair done up in pigtails as usual, but tied with two shimmering white ribbons instead of elastics. Speckles of sunlight dabbled across her skin and through her deep black hair, the patterns of the leaves on the trees dancing in the shadows. Her laugh tickled his ears in the best way, and he decided once again that he’d be happy if she was the last thing he ever saw, in this exact moment.

“What are you looking at, Adrien?” Alya asked.

“Hm, what? Uh, nothing.” Adrien responded as he finally sat up. Marinette had stopped laughing but still smiled widely, and he couldn’t help but grin back.

Nino and Alya exchanged a look across from them, but it went unnoticed.

  


\---

 

The day had passed by at a leisurely pace and Adrien had dabbled in a little bit of everything as he’d tried to make the most of it. Playing a few games of soccer at the insistence of Alix had left him hot and exhausted, and he’d made his way down to the lakeside in an attempt to cool off. The shade of the willow tree helped keep the heat away while he lounged, the grass tickling his bare feet.

It wasn’t long before he heard the soft thump of someone sitting down next to him, and he turned to see a somewhat nervous looking Marinette fiddling with the hem of her dress. She’d been so comfortable before instead of reverting to her typical awkward self, but now she seemed unsure. Maybe Alya and Nino’s presence had helped her somehow.

“Did you make your dress?” He asked, taking the initiative.

Marinette dropped the hem and put her hands in her lap. “Y-yeah! I did! Just yesterday, actually.”

“It looks nice. You look nice, today.” He said. He wasn’t sure what kind of response he wanted, but he’d felt he had to say it- had to compliment her.

“Thanks, Adrien. You look good too! I mean, you look happy.” She stuttered, brushing her hair back with a delicate hand.

A silence settled between them that wasn’t quite awkward, but it was enough to make Adrien dig for something to say. He didn’t really know what to talk about, but he figured that anything besides the bikini was a good option.

“Did you have fun?” Marinette squeaked.

“Yeah, of course. Today’s been great. Probably the best day I’ve had since you got that swim suit.”

_Jesus Christ what is wrong with you._

“Yeah I… what?” She said, eyes big and wide.

“It’s good! You’re good! We’re good! I’m going to go look at the lake now.”

He felt stiff and warmer than usual as he stood and walked a few feet to the water’s edge, toes churning up clumps of willow leaves in his wake. He never used to be this bad, why did he feel like his brain randomly shut off whenever he talked to Marinette now? It seemed like it was impossible for him not to fuck up a conversation unless he was telling some kind of horrible corny joke. Maybe he’d have to speak to her in jokes from now on. Shitty jokes twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. She looked lovely when she laughed.

He heard her get up and walk towards him and he willed himself to keep his mouth shut.

“You look a little hot.” She said from beside him.

The feel of his shirt clinging to him in all the wrong places struck him suddenly. He felt the wetness of the sweat he’d worked up kicking the ball around, the dampness at the back of his neck and the uncomfortable warmth under his armpits. He rarely felt self-conscious, but here and now, in front of Marinette, he wished he felt a little bit… cleaner.

“I think you’ll like the pool party more, you get the gross sweat but you can wash it off in the pool whenever you want.”

Adrien grinned. “It sounds like fun, but I’ve honestly never been too fond of swimming.”

It was a lie, he’d only developed a mysterious distaste for bodies of water after he’d met Plagg, but it would sound a little odd to say he just decided one day that he didn’t like the water. Better to lie than look even weirder in front of her. Then again, he wasn’t sure why he cared so much in the first place.

Marinette’s hands settled on her hips. “You’ve just never been to a pool party before. Trust me, you’ll love it.” She said sternly.

Adrien finally brought himself to look at her, toes curling dangerously along the edge of the lakeside.

He smirked at her. “Alya told me you always wear a big shirt over your swimsuit, even in the water. What’s the point of getting a new swim suit if nobody even sees it?”

“I don’t _always_ wear a big shirt over my suit, just when I’m with other people.” Marinette huffed.

“So what you’re saying is you’re going to wear one at the pool party?”

“Why do you care?”

Why did he care? Cute, sweet Marinette could wear whatever she wanted and look good. She could probably show up in a burlap sack and he’d tell her she looked fashionable. Then again, he had seen a burlap dress or two on the runway before…

He was probably about to say something really stupid. He most definitely was. She was looking at him now, expecting some kind of answer. Her eyes were looking particularly shocking that day, and her dress hugged her small torso in all the right ways. Legs. Very nice, smooth legs. He silently cursed Plagg as he let his resolve shatter into thousands of Marinette shaped pieces.

“I went to all the trouble of helping you pick out a bikini and I don’t even get to see you wear it? What a rip-off.”

Marinette gasped and blushed, straightening her arms and balling her hands into fists. This was usually the part where she’d say something a little silly and speed-walk away from him, but there was something different about the way she’d reacted this time. Her face had gone from an even shade of red to a familiar kind of determination. She seemed like she was having some kind of inner conflict.

She breathed deeply and smirked.

“I can wear whatever I want!” Marinette replied, crossing her arms. “It’s less awkward for everyone if I cover my… my, uh-”

“Sick abs? Totally toned torso? Really ripped-”

“Yes! Do you have any idea how hard it is to explain why I’m super buff or whatever?” She huffed.

“Don’t worry Marinette, you don’t have to cover up just because you think you’ll make me jealous.”

“You? Jealous of me? I eagerly await the day.”

Adrien smirked and placed both hands behind his head, his shirt riding up to reveal a sliver of tanned skin.

“I’m beautiful.” He said. “I’d never be jealous of you, it’s perfectly safe for you to wear your bikini to the pool party. I promise I won’t stare too much.”

“Someone’s full of himself today, don’t you think?” Marinette said. He could hear the hint of sarcasm in her voice.

“Are you seriously going to wear a big old shirt to hide yourself?”

“Are you going to stare at me if I don’t?

“Okay, joking aside you should wear whatever you -”

“Because I’m not going to waste this view on just anyone, you know.” She gestured to herself, arms gracefully moving up and down her sides.

Adrien grinned. He felt a little bit like Chat, and maybe he needed that tiny bit of extra confidence right now.

“Oh no, we can’t let the view go to waste, can we? It would be a sin to hide you away.”

“A little melodramatic, but true, I admit. I am a sight to behold.” Marinette said.

“And you said I was full of myself.”

“And you are,” she reaffirmed. “But what do I get out of this? Do I get something to stare at too?”

He was sweating again, and he wasn’t sure if it was because of the sun, or the conversation. He could rectify the situation in one fell swoop though, and he barely hesitated before reaching for the bottom hem of his shirt.

“Maybe you think you’re hot stuff, Mari,” He began, as he slowly began to lift his shirt up across his stomach. Marinette’s eyes instantly fixated on his own very toned, very athletic abdominals, and she could do nothing to hide the soft red glow in her cheeks. He hadn’t meant to draw the whole thing out, but he wanted Marinette to stare at him in the same way he liked to stare at her, and he hoped she didn’t notice that he was trying to make it last as long as possible. The dark-haired girl looked absolutely starstruck, and it was amazing.

“But I totally work out.”

He smiled to himself as he lifted the bottom of his shirt up over his head, covering his eyes and - shit, he bent his elbow the wrong way, it’s stuck and the shirt is…

Adrien lifted his foot to step backwards, and it was in that moment that Marinette snapped out of her stupor and shouted his name. But it was too late, and Adrien let out a loud and unsmooth “Fuck!” As he tumbled backwards into the lake. Drops of water splattered across a blue dress as Marinette absolutely exploded with laughter, covering her mouth with both hands and barely managing to stay on her feet.

After scrambling about and untangling his arms, Adrien’s head rose out above the water to glare daggers at his laughing friend.

She continued to howl and wheeze as he stared. “Don’t! Don’t look at me like that!” She managed to squeeze out between gasps. “Seriously, I’m gonna pee!”

“Marineeeeette…” He whined. His father would probably have his head for ruining his clothes, but he’d thrown caution to the four winds long ago.

He dragged himself through the pond water, feet squelching in the mud on the lakebed. It felt completely disgusting and amazing at the same time. He reached out one hand and grabbed at the reeds along the water’s edge, trying to haul himself out of the water but failing as he kept sliding back down the slippery slope. Marinette continued to do nothing but laugh, gleefully observing him struggle.

“Mariiiii, help, I’m gonna diiiiie.” He groaned, reaching one hand out of the water towards her while his grip remained strong on the reeds with with other.

It took her a few moments to gather herself enough to walk towards the edge to help him. She reach out for his dripping wet hand and moved to wrap hers around his wrist. He gripped her own wrist strongly and continued to groan.

“On three?” She asked.

“Hmhmmmm.” He replied.

“One.”

“Two.”

“ThreeeEEEEEE-” She screeched as Adrien flung her into the water, using the reeds he still held as leverage. She spluttered as she surfaced and grabbed at her pigtails.

Adrien didn’t even have time to laugh before one angry Marinette launched herself at him.

“I’m gonna kill you!” She shouted. “Nino was right, this is your last day on Earth, Agreste!”

“Nooooo!” He cried mockingly. “I never thought I’d live to see the day Nino was right about anything!”

Marinette didn’t reply as she grabbed at his shirt and tried to shove him under the water, and he fought back with a renewed vigor. They poked and prodded and clawed at each other beneath the water, exchanging laughs and cries and threats of long, excruciating deaths. It wasn’t long before Adrien found his arms wrapped around a still flailing Marinette, pressing her front to his chest. Somewhere in the scuffle, her shiny white ribbons had fallen out of her hair, and Adrien felt a moment of remorse. He’d have to replace them.

Marinette finally stopped squirming, tired out and looking slightly miserable, but in a good way. They both smelled like pond scum and Adrien could feel Marinette trying to stand on top of his feet in an attempt to keep her toes out of the sludge at the bottom of the lake. The murky brown water swirled around them and turned Marinette’s dress a little bit transparent, and Adrien would be lying if he said he didn’t let himself stare at her black bra through the soaking wet blue dress.

Soaking wet Marinette pressed against him. Loose, dripping hair framing her face, a water droplet making it’s way down to her nose. The places where her feet touched his skin were suddenly boiling hot and he imagine the tiny hands gripping the front of his shirt gripping his bed sheets instead.

“Well, that’s enough fun for today.” Marinette said. “Help me get out, you big dummy.”

As Adrien gave her a boost and shoved her out of the water, he couldn’t help but cringe on the inside as he came to an unfortunate realization. Plagg was totally right.

 

\---

 

Alya and Nino had said nothing when their two friends had shown up completely drenched and smelling of lake water, and they continued to say nothing as they all rode the metro home together. A small puddle was forming on the floor of the train beneath where Marinette and Adrien were sat, but neither of them could bring themselves to feel guilty.

Today had been the best picnic ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rest in pastries


	4. Marinette Dies Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a bit longer to put up because I was behind on editing, I spent most of this week writing Chapter 6 which is at around 9k words. Hope you enjoy.
> 
> If you have questions and the like, you can find me on tumblr as okapifeathers.

“Adrien likes you.”

“No he doesn’t, Alya.” Marinette replied to her monitor. “We’re just friends. Better friends? Than before, you know. I’m trying really hard.”

Alya had planned to come over that day, but she’d been stuck taking care of her siblings instead, so she and Marinette had opted for a video chat over brunch. They hadn’t spoken much about what happened at the park yesterday, but Alya had been absolutely bursting with questions. Marinette had done her best to avoid the subject, wanting to go at her own comfortable snail’s pace when it came to Adrien.

“He literally told you he’s going to stare at you. That he wants to stare at you! Friends don’t just say those things, Marinette.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “You talk to me like that, Alya.”

Alya rolled hers right back. “Yeah, but I do it because I know it makes you squirm. Adrien does it because he’s a straight hormonal teenager. He’s definitely interested.”

“We’re just friends. I barely even stuttered yesterday, I’ve come so far in only a week! I don’t want to say anything that could mess this up.”

“If you want your three kids and a hamster, you’re going to have to say something. Agreste is more oblivious than you sometimes.”

Marinette huffed and put her chin in her hand. “He’s not oblivious, he’s perfect and kind and handsome and he doesn’t see me that way, okay?”

Alya giggled and static reverberated through the speakers. “Whatever you say, Mari.”

They spent the rest of the late morning talking about tomorrow night’s all-night gaming session at Max’s house, or at least Marinette tried to while Alya continued to tease her about her good friend, Adrien. It wasn’t as if she didn’t want to talk about him, she just didn’t want Alya to talk about him with her. It was getting a little overwhelming, and she could only make so much progress before she needed to give it a rest.

When Adrien had come walking down the hill yesterday, sun making his light blond hair gleam and glow, Marinette had felt nothing but nerves as she tried to mentally rehearse the lines she’d been practicing the night before. She’d played out the whole conversation in her head, the entire day in fact, and she was ready to make a real effort to get closer to him. But when the time came, her mind had gone blank and she’d been able to do nothing more than smile stupidly at him for something like ten whole minutes. 

Luckily the boys had struck up a bit of banter and she’d been able to jump in thanks to one of Adrien’s trademark shoulder touches. It hadn’t been what she’d planned, but it had been comfortable and almost easy. The bad jokes had reminded her a little of Chat, and she’d let a bit of Ladybug bite back. Her mask worked a few more miracles than expected, from time to time.

Wandering over to where Adrien was resting by the lake had taken all of her willpower and more (and a shove or two from Alya), but she’d done it, and before she knew it she’d forgotten to be even just a little bit awkward and talked with Adrien as if they’d been friends in another life. She could barely believe she’d called him a dummy and laughed at him, of all things, but it had been fun, and she’d even seen a little bit of skin for her efforts.

Now she felt as if she were at some kind of crossroads, where one path would take her off into the sunset to follow her wildest dreams, and the other would lead her directly to the seventh circle of hell, where she’d have to live out the rest of her eternal death with only Chloé for companionship. She was scared of messing up, scared that she’d say something wrong and then Adrien would hate her forever and she’d have to move to China and start a new life with a new name.

But those were worries for another time. Today she had to work downstairs in the bakery, the evening shift. It wasn’t her favourite thing in the world to do, but she was good at baking and she could smile and wave at strangers and avoid thinking about her eternal damnation for a few hours.

She watered the plants on her balcony, got showered and dressed and set up a fan to keep Tikki cool while she worked. The rest of her day was uneventful to say the least, but she’d made time to chat with Tikki about her boy troubles while painting her nails a brilliant shade of red. As always, her companion was supportive and serious, and even helped her think about what she should say to Adrien tomorrow at Max’s house. In the end, she’d settled on taking a more natural approach.

If she and Adrien were going to be anything, it was friends. Very good friends.

\---

Marinette knocked on Max’s door at 6:30PM on the dot. While she struggled to make it to school on time in the morning, she had no issues finding her way to any gaming console that had Ultimate Mecha Striker III in it. 

Max apparently held his overnight gaming parties every year, but she’d never been close enough to him to be invited before. She’d worried a little about whether or not her new friend would want her there this year after the whole Gamer incident, but Max had insisted that she wasn’t allowed to say no. 

Max’s mom opened the door and Marinette introduced herself before sighing in relief at the gentle gust of air conditioning that welcomed her inside from the warmth of summer.

“Max, guest number two is here!” His mom had called up the stairs.

Max replied loudly from wherever he was, “we’re in a match, can you show her up? Thanks, Mom!” 

Max lived in a pretty big house, much bigger than Marinette’s but nothing like the Agreste Mansion. It was the kind of fancy townhouse you’d find in a prissy gated community, except without the gated community part. Max’s mom lead her up the stairs and down the hall before showing her into the biggest and best home theatre Marinette had ever seen. 

A huge projector screen TV covered almost an entire wall in front of a sunken seating area that was filled with bean bag chairs and giant pillows. Along the wall to the right of the TV was a long table packed with snacks fit for a night of gaming, chips and sodas and four or five trays of veggies with dip. The wall across from the table was like a dream come true for Marinette. There was shelves upon shelves of video games from across every console she could possibly think of. And to top off her personal heaven was a very enthusiastic Adrien Agreste, lounging in a bean bag chair beside Max. 

The Mecha Striker match on the screen ended with a victory for the pair of friends, and Max turned around to greet her. 

“Oh, hey Marinette! Adrien and I were just playing online for a bit.”

“Hey Max,” she replied. “This is… wow, you have a lot of games! I’ve never seen so many in one place before.”

“It’s a family hobby. Less talky, more fighty.”

Marinette grinned and stepped down into the sunken seating, carefully hopping between pillows and looking anywhere but at Adrien’s face. She knew he was looking at her, but it was too early for her face to turn so red. She settled herself into her own bean bag chair between Adrien and Max before looking from one to the other. Adrien held the familiar controller she had at home between his hands, while Max’s hands rested on his very own customized FightStick.

There was a sudden rush of excitement before Marinette loudly asked “Max, do you have another one of those?!”

“Of course, what do you take me for? A filthy casual?”

Adrien snorted. “I’m right here, you know.”

“Yep,” Max said, “the filthiest of casuals.”

Adrien cross his arms after setting the controller in his lap. “I beat you with this regular old everyday controller, you know. Even Marinette uses the regular ones, and she’s better than both of us put together.”

“No no,” Marinette began. “Max is right. You’re a casual.” She stood up and walked over the game shelf after Max pointed out where he kept his old FightSticks. 

“Just because I can’t afford one of these doesn’t mean I wouldn’t always use one if I had the chance.”

“Yeah Adrien, didn’t you notice?” Max tutted. “Marinette holds her controllers like she would hold a FightStick. She knows what’s up.”

Adrien sighed. “Yeah, yeah whatever! You’re just trying to get on Mari’s good side so she’ll be your partner.”

Max narrowed his eyes. “So what if I am? All’s fair in gaming and war.”

“Come on boys,” Marinette murmured as she plugged in the FightStick. “We all know you’re the ones that’ll have to team up to take me down.”

Black hair and blue eyes settled back into the bean bag chair in the middle, a satisfied and totally devious smirk resting between two adorable ears. 

The two boys looked at each other, then to Marinette, then back at each other. A silent nod and the shaking of hands confirmed the partnership before the girl in between them cracked her knuckles. 

“Which ass do I get to kick first?”

\---

After the other guests had arrived it hadn’t been long before Max had to instigate new rules for Mecha Striker. The typical ‘loser swaps out’ method didn’t work incredibly well, since Marinette never lost, so she was limited to three rounds in a row. Marinette and Adrien were not allowed to be partners, but neither were Max and Marinette. Kim and Ivan had put up a few good fights, but it wasn’t long before Marinette took it upon herself to make up her own penalty, and she bowed out after Rose joined in with Juleka.

She opted instead to join Nino, Alya, Adrien, and Alix in a fierce and highly competitive game of Cards Against Humanity. 

“If Père knew I was playing games like this he’d probably ground me for ten years,” Adrien had said as he matched ‘What gets better with age?’ to ‘Necrophilia’. He was frank and fearless about such a prospect, having spent a majority of his life confined to his house anyway.

Nino had poked fun at Adrien’s homeschool-sheltered-child background, but grasped for straws as he discovered Adrien was a little more aware than anyone gave him credit for.

“My internet access is unmonitored.” Adrien had explained.

“Are you sure?” Nino replied. “Your dad has the longest stick in the world up his ass, creeping your browser history is like the first thing I think of when it comes to uptight asshats like him.”

“Trust me, he definitely would have said something by now if he cared about that.”

The thought of his dad discovering his very hidden, very safe Ladybug filled folder wasn’t too terrible, most boys (and some girls) in Paris had something of a crush on the resident good luck charm, but only he got to vault through the city with her in the dead of night. 

He’d told her he was going to miss patrol tonight, and she hadn’t seemed worried. She had somewhere to be too.

Marinette held up a black card and snickered. “How did I lose my virginity?” She read.

Heads ducked down to look at their hands with a renewed determination. Adrien caught Alix staring at him suspiciously, and she turned away with her own Alix-brand evil grin. He shrugged it off, but Nino bumped his shoulder and made a lewd gesture with his fingers. Adrien continued to struggle to focus on his cards. Don’t think about Marinette. 

There was a round of combined laughter as Marinette selected ‘The Make-A-Wish Foundation’ followed by a satisfied clap from Adrien. 

“Ironyyyyyy.” Alix piped up from beside Marinette. 

“Shut up, Alix! You’re just sour because you suck at this game,” Marinette retorted.

“That may be true, but Adrien wins every time you get to choose.”

Marinette grimaced. “What does that have to do with anything? He’s good at this!”

The pink haired girl snickered. “Did you guys hook up when I wasn’t looking or something?”

“I’m thirsty, is anyone else thirsty?” Adrien interjected. “I’m going to get some punch, anyone else?”

“We know you’re thirsty,” Alix droned, “That’s the joke, you barbie.”

Adrien made an incoherent noise as he got up off the floor and stumbled over to the snack table. Marinette was completely pink, but wisely chose not to say anything. Alix was a dangerous individual, and she was not to be trusted.

Alya did nothing but smirk and exchange a few quiet words with Nino. It was Marinette against the world tonight, it seemed.

She chose to get up and follow after Adrien, who was ironically her only safe option for the moment.

She gingerly picked up a styrofoam cup only for it to be gently lifted from her hand a moment later.

“I’ve got it.” Adrien said to her, voice a little shaky but otherwise polite as always. 

Marinette watched him fill the cup with a fruity mystery concoction and thought about anything other than hooking up with Adrien. As much as she wanted it to become a truth, it would realistically never happen. Grounding herself in reality was something she’d been working on, and friendship was so much more possible than anything more, in her opinion. 

Her thoughts came back to Nino’s comment about the stick up Gabriel Agreste’s ass.

“How did you convince your dad to let you come to a sleepover, anyway?” She asked him.

“Convince is a strong word,” he responded as he handed back her styrofoam cup. Their fingers brushed and Marinette dutifully ignored it. “It’s more like I omitted the truth. Most of the truth, I guess.”

“You lied?”

“Omitting truth isn’t lying! He knows I’m at Max’s house, he just doesn’t know anyone else is here.”

Marinette giggled and sipped a bit of her drink. “What do you think he’d say if he found out you’re having a sleepover with a bunch of girls?”

Adrien looked thoughtful for a moment before putting his own drink down on the table. He straightened his already near-perfect posture and narrowed his eyes, settling his hands behind his back.

“Adrien Agreste,” he said, voice stern and brow furrowed, “women are nothing more than a carefully crafted distraction, sent from hell to make you forget to pluck your eyebrows and steal your hairspray.”

Marinette’s smile was all the affirmation he needed to continue his impression.

“If you interact with other human beings, your grades will drop and you’ll never make it past lycée. You’ll forget all the English and Chinese you’ve ever learned and you’ll have to rely on your dashing good looks just to get by.” He swiped his hand smoothly through his hair. 

Marinette was giggling as quietly as she could at that, lips pinching the edge of her cup as she went to take a drink. Adrien waited quietly for her to tilt the cup upwards.

He put on his best Gabriel-style frown. “You make a mockery of me, the greatest fashion mogul in the entire world? How dare you! I’ll have you blacklisted from every label from here to New York!”

There was a tiny splutter as Marinette choked on her drink a little through her laughter, but she managed to keep the liquid she spit out in the cup. She took another gulp just as Adrien lifted one arm from behind his back and brought it up over the table.

He’d meant to mimic his father’s fist pounding on his desk in frustration, something he’d seen a thousand times or more. But he’d been looking at Marinette, rather than where his fist was heading, and there was a disruptive splash as his hand connected with the liquid in the punch bowl. 

It was a split second before the slippery bottom of the bowl sent his arm flailing to the far side of the table, and he turned to try and catch his own weight with his other hand. His legendary bad luck prevailed as his left hand clipped the edge of the punch bowl on the way to the surface of the table, and before he knew it he was on the floor and covered head to toe in pink fruit juice.

The last of Marinette’s dignity flew out through her nose in an eruption of the drink she’d only just inhaled a second ago, dribbling down her chin and staining her white blouse with a mixture of grapefruit and snot.

“Shit!” They’d both shouted, eerily synced in their embarrassment. 

Marinette shuddered and grabbed the nearest napkin, pressing it to her nose and wiping at the tears streaming down her cheeks. “Fuck, this burns!”

“Pere’s going to kill me,” Adrien groaned, plucking miserably at his ruined Agreste brand shirt. “I really am gonna get grounded for ten years!” He cried.

The poor girl across from him struggled and spluttered as she tried to clean up her face and laugh at the same time and it only took on shared looked between the two for both of them to collapse with a mix of pain and shameful glee. 

Max had already run off to grab his mom, and Alya sighed dreamily.

“Those freaks are made for each other.” 

\---

A shower for Adrien and a change into sleepwear for both him and Marinette lead to everyone else getting into comfy sleepwear as well. There was some good natured teasing amongst the present parties, but the rest of the evening passed by uneventfully and without any other mishaps. 

One in the morning found the group of friends settled in amongst the piles of pillows and newly retrieved blankets watching B rated horror flicks. One arm in a bowl of popcorn and the other looped around Alya’s elbow, Marinette found her thoughts drifting to her earlier episode as the monster on the screen disemboweled someone. Blood and chunks of human beings peppered the ground around a screaming girl and Marinette’s classmates recoiled with noises of disgust around her, but she just continued absently munching on her snacks.

In a remarkable turn of events, the world hadn’t ended when Adrien made witness to the contents of her nose dripping down her chin. He’d sat there with a bashful yet happy look on his face, covered in juice and still looking utterly handsome as always. Had she known earlier in the day that she’d be shooting juice out her nose in front of Adrien, she might have been too mortified to even show up. But it had happened. And everything was okay.

She snuck a glance at Adrien, who had already been looking her way in the soft glow of the projector screen. He gave a her a sly, almost familiar wink.

Maybe things were better than okay.

Mylene, Ivan, and Rose had already drifted off before the end of the movie, and by three in the morning the TV was off and everyone had made themselves comfortable amongst the pillows and blankets. Marinette wasn’t sure if she was thankful or disappointed that Alya had laid down between herself and Adrien. Maybe a week ago she would have begged her friend to come to her rescue, but tonight she was feeling anything but scared. It was new and exciting. 

Her friends slowly drifted off to sleep around her, but she had trouble trying to make herself feel tired enough to do the same. Her sleeping habits had always been a bit off since she’d started patrolling with Chat in the early hours of the morning, and sometimes she struggled to close her eyes before four. There was a faint blue light flashing on and off on the blu-ray player under the TV and the sounds of rustling blankets drifted through the air as the teenagers made themselves comfortable in their dreams. A siren blared somewhere out in the muggy Paris night.

She sighed as she realized Alya had beat her to dreamland, and quietly sat up. She couldn’t see very well in the dark, but it looked to her like everyone else had passed out as well. She stood up as quietly as she could, and decided to abandon the blanket she’d been under, half of it held prisoner in Alya’s iron grasp. With only an oversized pillow, Marinette stepped silently between her friends and climbed up the step and out of the sunken seating, softly laying her pillow in the corner near the game shelf.

She wasn’t the only one having trouble sleeping though, and Adrien was gifted with enhanced night vision even without his transformation. He’d watched Marinette with curiosity, and sat up after she’d lied down in the corner. After checking to make sure Nino was out to his left, he summoned his inner cat and crawled stealthily out of the pillow pit on all fours. He stopped in front of Marinette, who had her eyes closed but didn’t look all too relaxed. All she had was the giant pillow to lie on, no blanket.

“Marinette?” He whispered. “Are you okay?”

The girl opened one eye and tensed a little. “Kind of. A little cold.”

“What are you doing over here?” he asked her, worried, “are you upset about earlier?”

Marinette groaned quietly. “Let me die alone in my corner of shame.”

Adrien kneeled down in front of her. “Seriously? Marinette, it’s nothing to worry about, really-”

The girl giggled. “No, that’s not it. Alya just snores.”

As if on cue, a low rumble followed by a snort drifted across the room from beside Nino. It was loud and undignified, but nobody around them stirred. 

“Oh.”

“Yeah, whenever we had sleepovers before I’d have to go to bed before her just so I could get some sleep. You gotta beat her to the punch.”

It was dark, but Adrien could see her smiling, his vision tinted a little green around the edges. He moved to sit down next to her pillow. “Am I keeping you up?”

Marinette sat up next to him on her pillow and leaned her back against the wall. “Not really. I have trouble sleeping sometimes.”

“Me too. This is my first sleepover ever, you know.”

“Really? Are you having fun?” She asked.

“The most fun ever.”

“That’s good.”

A comfortable silence settled between them. There was something nice about watching his friends sleep. People that cared about him and loved him and played rude card games with him. He’d been missing a lot, growing up under his father’s watchful eye. 

He stood suddenly but quietly. “Be right back.”

Marinette could hardly make out where he went, but she could tell he’d stepped back down into the pit of pillows. There was a low thump before he returned with the large fluffy brown comforter that Nino had definitely been cocooned in moments before. 

“We’ll need this.” He said to her as he kneeled down in front of her again. “Scoot over and lie down on the pillow.”

He watched as Marinette did what she was told in the dark. She was small enough that most of her body fit on the pillow. As much as Adrien’s feline side loved being completely surrounded by warm bodies and blankets, this was much more ideal for the moment. He laid the big blanket down over Marinette before lifting up one end and crawling underneath, settling down on the pillow and leaving about a foot of space between them. He could almost feel Marinette become still, and she didn’t move an inch.

Adrien laid on his side and looked at her, and she continued to stare at the ceiling. 

A few moments passed before he heard the rustle and felt the pull of the blankets as Marinette turned on her side to face him, her head barely peeking out from under the covers, hair loose and bunched up around her face.

“I guess we’ll both die alone in the corner of shame, then.” She said.

It was funny, but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything back to her as his pulse quickened and he felt his heart hammer against his ribcage. He hadn’t anticipated what her gaze might do to him, so close and so inviting. He felt the urge to do something, anything, but he wasn’t really sure what to do now that Marinette was lying on the pillow next to him.

He smiled as she closed her eyes. 

She was cute and made him feel comfortable, even with Alya’s snores droning on in the background. He was hesitant, but willed himself to move. He inched towards her across the pillow as slowly as he possibly could until there were only a couple inches of space between them. Marinette didn’t move a muscle, but he saw her closed eyelids twitch a little bit as he moved.

With a gentle slowness, he raised his arm under the blanket and carefully placed it on her hip. He stopped and waited for a reaction, but when he heard and felt no protests he moved his hand across her hip and around to her back before softly pulling her towards him until there was barely any any space between them. His hand rested on the small of her back and he faintly felt her warm breath on the skin of his chin.

He closed his eyes and smiled when he felt her hand inch its way around his own waist and settle on his back. Warm, happy, and immensely satisfied, he allowed sleep to overtake him, and dreamed of the girl beside him. 

\---

He was a little thankful that they’d woken up first so he didn’t have to answer any awkward questions, and Marinette had smiled sweetly at him before he’d had to walk out to the waiting limo to get to an early photoshoot. Normally his lack of sleep would plague him, but he felt more awake than he had in awhile on that particular morning.

His first sleepover had been an overwhelming success, and even though he’d been scolded for staining his outfit, he found that it was worth it and he’d do it all over again just so he could rest his hand on Marinette’s hip.

He’d been dreaming for so long about his potential future with Ladybug, but when Marinette had slipped into his nightly thoughts it hadn’t bothered him as much as he thought it might. Ladybug was someone he didn’t truly know, a beautiful and amazing woman hidden away behind her spotted mask. 

But Marinette was astoundingly real. He was able joke with her and touch her and she didn’t shove him away or even stutter anymore.

Marinette was real, and he wanted more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the filthiest of casuals.


	5. Marinette Unlocks Her Cage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to post this Sunday or Monday but got a bit caught up in post-convention prep, so I've been a bit behind in editing.
> 
> I'll be away at said convention until Monday, but I'll catch up on all of your comments when I get back. Thanks!

Marinette had carefully avoided thinking about the sleepover party, partially because she was afraid she might slip up and say something to Alya, and partially because she was worried she might spontaneously combust. She was sure that if Alya had known she’d literally spent the night with Adrien’s hands physically touching her that she’d never hear the end of it. It would probably lead to some strange regression in terms of her relationship with the fashionable young man. 

Of course, she was also trying to convince herself that it hadn’t meant anything, and that Adrien could never like her the same way she adored him. She’d been pretty successful at said convincing thus far, Marinette was a seasoned pro when it came to belittling herself.

“Thanks for your input, Tikki, but I really don’t think he did it on purpose. He was probably just cold or something.”

“Of course, Marinette.” Tikki had replied. Ever supportive but equally as frustrated, antenna pressed down flatly against her bulbous head.

The kwami and her chosen had spent the better part of the morning trying to keep cool, but Marinette only had one fan and it had started to give out the day before. The blades whired and blew Tikki’s antenna back as she hovered and stared face first into it. It was perched precariously on the top step of the ladder leading to the bed, and faced the bottoms of Marinette’s feet as she lounged on top of her thin sheets. Her skylight was covered with a piece of black fabric.

“Nothing’s different and everything’s fine.” Marinette said for the fifth, or was it the sixth time that morning? Tikki definitely wasn’t keeping track of something so  _ trivial _ .

“Maybe it’s best to move on? You keep saying you don’t want to talk to me about it but then you bring it up again…”

Marinette considered Tikki’s words of wisdom, while simultaneously realizing how ridiculous she was being. She had to ‘move on’ from something as normal as falling asleep beside another human being. That human being was Adrien Agreste, sure, but did it really make a difference?

Marinette pulled her phone out from under her pillow and tapped on Alya’s contact.

Ever the social media addict, it took less than one ring for Alya to answer. “Hey, Alya? Are you busy? No? Great, you should come over, Maman will make us shaved ice. Yeah, I know, I’m barely alive. It’ll be worth it though, I promise. Ok, see you soon.”

She sighed before scrambling down her ladder, leaving the fan to Tikki. She threw open her windows and squinted as the harsh sun blazed down upon her, resisting the urge to shake her fist at the glowing orb in the sky. Summer was nice, but it was absolutely too hot today and it made her not want to do anything. Killing time was best done with Alya, but even painting nails and fiddling with their hair was probably going to feel like a chore today. She supposed she should think of something to talk about, something that had absolutely nothing to do with Adrien Agreste or bikinis or wearing small clothes. 

It wasn’t long before Alya walked through the front door, Sabine handing her two bowls full of flavoured ice on her way up to Marinette’s room. Immediately the other girl stole a towel from the pink vanity, eager to wipe the sweat from her forehead and begging Marinette to shove it up under the back of her shirt to cover the uncomfortable wetness there. Alya sat cross-legged on the floor while Marinette chose to lie down and stare at the ceiling, her bowl of shaved ice already melting.

“Why did I even come over?” Alya began. “It’s too hot to watch you lie on the floor.”

“Hnnnnngg.”

“Mari?”

Marinette sighed. “I got problems, Alya. Solve my problems.”

Alya laughed lightly and rolled her eyes. “Adrien problems, I’m guessing?”

Marinette almost wanted to say  _ no _ . Almost. The problem with trying to talk about anything besides Adrien was that she could rarely think of something else, especially after spending so much time with him lately. The reality was that if she never said anything, her hopeless cycle of fawning, talking to him a little, and then taking two giant steps back just to fawn over him some more would never end. The fact was that things had changed since the last day of school. Marinette wasn’t sure how, but they had. And it was confusing.

Making stupid noises and swooning were two things that she used to do all too often, but now she was doing things like fighting with Adrien in a dirty lake and sleeping beside him. There were too many changes too soon, and she wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself, and she dared not consider what Adrien might have been thinking of her. In an awkward roundabout way, she was scared that maybe Adrien really did like her. 

Wouldn’t that be just the most amazing thing? 

It should be, but she found herself more worried than anything else. What if he didn’t like her and she just came to the wrong conclusion and made a fool out of herself? Could they even be friends after that? What if they got together and Adrien realized what a klutz she was and dumped her? What if they had three kids and a dog - no, a hamster, and he suddenly left her? He’d probably stay with her as long as he could manage before leaving, just to be nice to her. Marinette’s imagination was a runaway train when it came to Adrien, a one way ticket to the pit of no self confidence. 

But Doctor Alya was here to save the day. That, or completely embarrass her best friend, one of the two. 

“Adrien problems.” Marinette agreed, nodding her head.

“Tell me about ‘em, girl. Mama Alya is here for you.”

Where to begin? Marinette wasn’t even really sure what she wanted to bring up. She inwardly groaned before shoving her hand into her bowl of flavoured ice, scooping up a wet crunchy blob and shoving it down the front of her shirt. The heat was unbearable and it was getting progressively worse the more she let herself think about…things. 

“Okay, so… what if Adrien does like me? What if one day the stars and planets align and he thinks I’m cooler than I actually am?”

“Then you guys date and get married and live happily ever after.” Alya said, speaking around a mouthful of her own ice.

“No, I’m serious! I mean, I guess I was just thinking about what’s been going on lately. He tried to take his shirt off in front of me at the lake.”

“Really? What a weirdo.”

“I could barely talk to him like two weeks ago, and now he’s doing some strange kind of pseudo-flirting with me? I think? What do you call it when someone dumps a bowl of punch on themselves in front of you?”

Alya tapped her spoon against the side of her bowl. “It just sounds like he’s being himself, if Nino’s word is anything to go by. Why are you so worried all of a sudden?”

Marinette gracelessly shoved another handful of ice down her shirt. “We fell asleep together, he put his hand on my hip.”

She hadn’t meant to say it with such frankness, but the words had been lying in wait under her tongue since the minute Adrien had touched her, and now she felt like she’d just thrown up.The words were out in the open now, something she had only just sworn off telling Alya about earlier that day. 

Alya was suspiciously unphased by this revelation.

“At Max’s?”

“Yeah.”

Alya put down her bowl and rested her chin in her hand. “Do you think it’s too much for you?”

“Maybe.” Marinette squeaked.

“I think what you really need to do is get rid of this perfect infallible vision of Adrien Agreste that you drag around with you all day.”

“What do you mean?”

“Mari, you know he’s never even been to school before last year, right?”

Marinette fiddled with her thumbs. “Yeah.”

Alya scooted along the floor and stretched her arms above her head as she laid down next to Marinette. 

“Imagine for a minute that you spent all of your childhood living in the same house, doing the same things in the same room every day. You have to make appointments with your dad just to talk with him, and you have to schedule in bathroom breaks between lessons or you never get to go.”

Alya paused to consider her words, thoughtful for a moment at Marinette’s almost unrivaled lack of perception.

“You don’t know anyone else your age, and you only have one friend. One friend that can’t be assed to care about anything more than her jewelry and hideous blue eyeshadow. Imagine if the only person you interacted with who wasn’t some dusty old man or your personal secretary was Chloé Bourgeois.”

“Eventually you get to go to school, but only because you ran away from home to do it. You don’t really know how it works, and you don’t know anyone except Chloé, who’s convinced you she’s some kind of saint, well loved by anyone and everyone. The very first girl other than Chloé that you ever interact with thinks you put gum on her chair.”

“I apologized to him for that.” Marinette interrupted.

“I know, Mari,” Alya continued. “But think about it.”

“I guess I just can’t relate.”

“None of us can.” Alya reassured. She paused a moment before going on.

“It’s the first time you’ve ever met another girl your age, and you think you’ve already messed up, that she already doesn’t like you. Can you imagine? Being so excited and so abnormally pure that meeting another person is the best thing that’s ever happened to you, and you already fucked it up?”

“That does sound awful.” Marinette agreed.

“He was fighting an uphill battle from day one, girly.”

Marinette groaned and sat up, reaching for her bowl of ice only to discover it had all melted away into sticky water.

She sighed. “I probably only made him feel worse by stuttering all the time. He probably thought I still hated him.”

“Maybe, for a little bit.”

They were silent again for a long moment.

“Adrien doesn’t know what to do with his friends.” Alya said. “He has them now, but he’s awkward and oblivious and he doesn’t know what to do with himself. That’s the real Adrien.”

Marinette drew her knees up to her chin and hugged them. What Alya was saying made sense, whether or not she wanted it to. Adrien had been like some unattainable beacon, shining brightly in the distance and out of her grasp despite her dreams. But she had put him out there on a pedestal, and had manufactured her own reasons to be nervous around him. She knew her feelings weren’t shallow, she didn’t like him just because of his looks or his last name or his money. She had been prepared to hate him, to go to school alongside a male version of the golden haired girl that had plagued her since kindergarten. 

She’d fallen for his kindness, his joyful nature, his curious humour. And then she’d locked him away on her own. 

Adrien was just a shy boy who wanted friendship.

She’d been so stupid.

“Yeah, kind of.” Alya piped up, confirming that she had in fact said that last thought aloud.

While Alya and Nino had done their best to treat Adrien like a normal human being, Marinette had floundered around in a stupor she could only describe as selfish. What she thought about Adrien wasn’t important, who he was and what he needed should have been at the top of her priorities list, next to fighting Akuma of course. She’d been loving him all wrong, and she needed to fix it. 

But first, she needed more ice. Her cheeks were warm, a comforting warmth that complimented the content feeling in her chest. It was the way she felt when she was around him before she let herself dissolve into a mentally panicking mess.

Adrien needed someone, and maybe it could be her.

 

\---

  
  


“So you like Marinette, welcome to the club. We have donuts and we go bowling on Thursdays.”

“Nino!”

“I’m just being real with you, dude. You seem tense.” Nino’s voice echoed through Adrien’s room. 

Nino was unfortunately still banned from setting foot in the mansion despite Adrien’s feeble protesting to his father. Gabriel had remained firm in his decision to prevent his son from interacting with those he deemed “problematic”, which was just about everyone Adrien had ever spoken to in his entire life. It made hanging out a bit more difficult, but luckily they both had equal access to god’s heavenly gift to man: the internet. Nino had barely suggested that voice chatting might be a thing they could do before Adrien had ordered the fanciest headsets he could find online, and he’d shoved the embossed box into Nino’s hands at school one day along with a list of chat programs. 

So here they were, Adrien sitting backwards on his desk chair and sliding himself back and forth across his room while Nino chastised him in his own special way for being an easily flustered moron.

“I’m not tense, Nino. Maybe I am, I don’t know what it is.”

“You’re allowed to like more than one person at a time, bro.”

“I know I know, you’re the second person to tell me that. It’s just strange, I guess.” He shuffled forward along the floor, propelling his chair in the direction of his desk.

“Strange how?”

It just was. Adrien had been pining after Ladybug for so long that he’d never really considered anyone else before, and he didn’t really want to. His heart, among other things, didn’t seem to be in complete agreement with that decision. He was definitely still in love with Ladybug, and his inexperienced teenage brain had concluded that he always would be, that they were meant for each other and they would always be partners, at the very least. His Lady had never been bothered by his constant attempts at flirting, but he knew that most of the time she was just playing along with him rather than seriously flirting back. She’d poke him on the nose and smile at him, a smile that could light him up on even the most miserable of days, and then they’d continue on just as they always had, no different and no closer than before.

If anything, they were best friends. He got to truly be himself around her, though she didn’t really know it. He’d been trying harder than usual to blend the two sides of his personality together when he was hanging out with his friends, but it was new and potentially dangerous to act so much like his leather clad alter-ego. And yet, he had no trouble letting his more… dorky side, as Alya had put it, show off a bit around Marinette. 

Constant bad luck had foiled his attempts to be suave or at least even somewhat put together, but that didn’t change the fact that he’d tried. He’d been the one to pull Marinette up against his chest in the lake, he’d been the one that had stared at her wide-eyed and asked her where her provocative ladybug shirt had gone after she’d banged her elbow on the doorframe. He had already decided that he wanted something more than what he was getting from her, but he didn’t feel ready to let go of Ladybug. He didn’t know if he ever would be.

“I guess,” Adrien started, “that I don’t know what I want, or what she wants. She’d always seemed so distant up until now. And there’s still that other girl I told you about.”

Nino sighed. “Yeah, you won’t even tell me who this other mystery girl is.”

“You don’t know her.”

“She from work?”

Nino of course was referring to his job as model, but it technically wasn’t a lie to say that Ladybug was also from work. Just a different, secret kind.

“Yeah, work.”

“Don’t eat where you shit, man.”

“What?”

“Don’t you know dating in the workplace is a huge faux-pas? It just messes everything up in the end, never works out.” Nino explained. 

Adrien cringed. “Does it really never work? It can’t be that bad, especially if we’re already friends.”

“No!” Nino shouted. “Don’t do it man, what if she has to go on tour or go work for some other company? You’re gonna be trapped in the Agreste empire forever.”

“Yes, thanks for reminding me.”

“Sorry dude, I didn’t mean it like that. But you know what I’m saying, right?”

Adrien leaned back and crossed his arms. “She’s probably not going anywhere, but I get what you mean. Maybe you’re right.”

“That’s the spirit!”

“But maybe you’re wrong.”

“Adrien, come on bro. Marinette already digs you, you’d be stupid not to give it the old try.”

Adrien raised his eyebrows at that. “Wait, what? She likes me?”

Nino rolled his eyes despite knowing Adrien wouldn’t see him do it. “You can’t possibly be that oblivious, right? I mean I told Alya you’re a little slow, but-”

“I’m not oblivious!”

“Uh yeah, you definitely are. Mari is crazy about you.”

“Are you sure? She could barely talk to me for like four months after we met. I thought she didn’t like me.”

Nino laughed over the mic. “Haven’t you ever felt, like, super nervous in front of someone you admire before? Is there anyone you look up to?”

Ladybug.

He hadn’t felt nervous about Ladybug when he’d been able to hide behind his mask, and play-flirting with her had always felt like second nature. The time he’d met her as himself though, that had been different. Jackady had been out and about looking for his father, but any thoughts of saving Gabriel had all gone down the drain the moment he’d laid his civilian eyes on his Lady. She had been radiant and adorable as usual, but she was looking at Adrien Agreste, a stranger, not her partner. He’d approached her then, but had suddenly realized he had no idea what to say, and so he’d awkwardly greeted her and stumbled a little over his words while doing so.

He’d felt a little odd, timid, maybe even a little naked in front of her. She was a superhero, his shining star in the night, the girl he dreamed about under the moon and secretly pined for beneath the sun whether or not he was transformed. 

It was different when she was right there, looking at him; at plain old Adrien Agreste. It was a little scary, and he’d been worried about making a good impression more than anything else. Would she like him for him? Would she recognize him from the billboards all over the city? Would she hate him for being who he was?

He had been an idiot. 

Marinette hadn’t been avoiding him or stumbling over her words in front of him because she still resented him for the gum, or for being friends with Chloé. 

She had done it because she liked him. 

Marinette had been worried, nervous, and scared of what Adrien might think of her. It sounded ridiculous in his head. Marinette was one of the kindest and most sincere people he knew; how could anyone hate her? Chloé sort of did hate her, though, and he was friends with her. Friends with someone who hated Marinette for no apparent reason.

It was all coming together, and yet he still wasn’t sure. There was a nagging doubt with Marinette that there hadn’t been with Ladybug, a doubt that Marinette didn’t really like him and maybe the past few days and his current revelation were all some kind of fabrication or that he was coming to the wrong conclusions. 

“Nino?”

“Adrien?”

“Are you really sure she likes me? Like, really sure?” He was curled up now, hunched over in his desk chair and hugging his bony knees to his chest.

“A hundred percent, dude.”

Nino had been wrong before, of course. Part of Adrien hoped he was right this time.

Their conversation had drifted off along the lines of video games and Nino’s newest mix as a budding DJ after Adrien had insisted he’d work out his feelings on his own. It was easier to brood than to talk to someone about your secret love for Paris’ resident super lady, after all.

Nino had tried to drag the conversation back to the meek dark-haired girl knowing that Adrien was actively avoiding it, but it hadn’t really revealed much besides whether or not Adrien had taken a cold shower after the park incident (a yes) and if he had to relieve some tension on his own in Max’s bathroom after waking up beside Marinette (a very reluctant yes). But Adrien had done that more than once because of Ladybug, too. 

Adrien was a muddled churning mess of emotions on the inside by the time Nino hung up the call, but he was pretty good at repressing it. Or ignoring it, either one. 

That is, until the phone on his bedside table vibrated, an incoming call. He almost put the phone back down when he saw the caller ID.

Marinette.

He could miss the call and text her later when he was feeling a little more normal, but it would be rude to pretend he wasn’t holding his phone in his hand at that very moment. Maybe she needed help with something.

“ _ Salut _ , Marinette.”

“Adrien! Uh, hi!”

Her voice was a little high, but after his most recent conversation, his was probably a few octaves higher than usual as well.

“What’s up, Mari?”

“I, um, I mean I was just wondering, are you busy next Tuesday?”

“Not sure, give me a sec.”

Adrien rolled back to his monitor and pulled up his digital schedule, mapped out minute for minute on Nathalie’s tablet and updated in real time on his PC. He didn’t check it as often as he should, really. He hated looking at it.

“I have a shoot for the upcoming Fall line until around two, but I’m free after that.”

“Oh perfect!” Marinette shouted. “My shift ends at noon, did you want to come over after?”

“Yeah sure, what for?”

It was a stupid question, he realized.

“Just to hang out, I-I mean if you want to? If not that’s okay.”

“No, no! I’d love to, Marinette. I’ll come by after the shoot.”

He thought he heard a suppressed squeal for a moment, but it was probably nothing.

“Okay, great, good, I’ll see you then?”

Adrien nodded. “See you then. Later, Mari.”

He laid his phone facedown on his desk and stared intently at the 24 karat gold plated backing. Chloé had given it to him for his birthday one year, and he’d feel bad if he didn’t use it, even if it did scream prissy rich kid. Part of him wondered if that was what Marinette and his other friends saw in him sometimes. Marinette has all his magazines, she knows how much his clothes cost and that he shows up to school in a limo when he lives less than two minutes away.

The sunlight streaming in from his window reflected off the phone back, shining into his squinting eyes. He typically didn’t think much of his wealth, but today it only existed in the moment to remind him of how different he was from Marinette. It was a gap that could be closed though, with a little effort. He was going to hang out with Marinette, alone at her house. Well, alone as they could be when her parents were around. He liked her parents, they were nice.

He smiled. 

Marinette liked him, and she’d invited him over. He felt warm. Very warm.

  
  


\---

  
  


The second Marinette had hung up, she’d thrown herself face-down into her pillow on her bed. She knew she had no reason to be embarrassed about a phone call of all things, but it had excited her to hear him sound so enthusiastic about coming over. She could barely believe she’d struggled enough talking to him that she had to steal his phone to delete her terrible voicemail, and was currently feeling more embarrassed about her past ineptitude than anything else.

Alya had stayed long enough to convince her that she needed to be Adrien’s friend first and foremost, and that meant talking to him alone, where he could be himself and not the perfect model child and heir to the Agreste fortune that he had to pretend to be. Well, he was the heir, she supposed, but perfect he was not. He was the kind of person that ditched his bodyguard and ate ten macarons on his own when he thought nobody was looking.

Marinette wanted to see more of the real Adrien, the part of himself that he was comfortable with, and the part that she so desperately wanted to fall in love with. She already loved his kindness and his work ethic among other things, so it was about time she let herself fall for his goofier side as well. 

She’d seen glimpses of it in recent days, and it was comforting. She was more at ease when they were doing something silly. 

She was going to teach him to bake, she decided. Cupcakes would be a good start. He had a personal chef after all, he probably didn’t grow up making cookies and eating raw batter like she had.

Adrien was going to be her friend. 

Her very handsome, very attractive friend. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SALUT, MARINETTE


	6. Marinette Breaks a Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit late posting this, but both my editor and I had a busy few weeks. I had a convention followed immediately by illustration work, and I'm an illustrator first and foremost, so I need to focus on that over writing from time to time! Hope you all enjoy this chapter, it's just about time to dial everything up to 11. SOON.
> 
> Don't forget, if you have any questions etc I can also answer them on tumblr where you can find me as okapifeathers. You can also follow me on twitter where I shitpost about Marinette almost 24/7 if you're into that, @NBfeathers.

Tuesday morning began sometime around three AM for Ladybug. If anyone had told her a year ago that she’d be up at this ungodly hour to fight reanimated dead bodies while dressed in polka-dotted spandex, she probably would have laughed for a very, very long time. Yet here she was. 

It turns out that desecrating gravestones with spray paint was not good idea, and the graveyard attendant was none too happy when he found bright pink lewd paintings on the side of a tomb. 

Gravedigger was disgusting. He was clothed in dusty old brown robes crusted with dirt, with maggots and flies crawling and buzzing in and around his peeling and rotting flesh. His once human head had been replaced with a skull, hollow eyes lit up by a small cluster of twinkling fireflies. Behind this exposed skull his decomposing brain oozed pus and other liquids that Ladybug did not have the name for. He had no vocal chords, but Ladybug could hear the groans and low screeches emanating from his body. From where the monster stood, his odor was revolting; she couldn't think how much worse it would be if she was closer.

She leapt from cover to cover, desperately trying to come up with something, absolutely anything, to put an end to her already disappointing morning.

“Chat, get out of the way!” Ladybug shouted from behind a headstone. “I don’t think having nine lives is gonna help!”

“You worry too much, My Lady!” Chat yelled back as he leapt from one tombstone to another, dodging the iron headed shovel in Gravedigger’s hands. The stone where he’d just been perching crumbled as the shovel connected with it, the revolting apparition wielding it groaning in anguish.

A red yo-yo cut through the mist and strung itself around a lamppost, and Ladybug snatched Chat out of the air mid-flight as she propelled them up to the top of the nearest building. They both tucked into a roll as they met the rooftop before standing and rushing back to the ledge to make sure they weren’t followed.

Gravedigger was slow and couldn’t follow them to anywhere that wasn’t on the ground, but his formerly buried minions were a little more agile, and much more frail. Nothing more than bones and rotting flesh. The problem lied in the whereabouts of the akuma, and the morning fog was not helping in the slightest.

“Did you see anything?” Ladybug asked Chat as she peered over the ledge.

“Nada. No jewelry that I can see, he’s not wearing anything besides those old robes. Just rotting body underneath.”

“Lovely.” Ladybug replied flatly. 

It was dark, and so she’d had to depend primarily on Chat to find the akuma. She’d already snapped a shovel in half over her knee, but no possessed butterfly had emerged, and Gravedigger had summoned a second shovel in only seconds. They’d been at it for over an hour now, diving in and trying to find something, anything they could break, and then retreating when they found nothing. 

Ladybug tapped her chin and narrowed her eyes. “Have you checked under his robe?”

Chat cringed. “I was honestly trying not to get too close, maggots aren’t really my kind of bug.”

“Well, you might have to suck it up and touch a bug or two that isn’t me, Kitty. If this keeps up you’re gonna be six feet under before sunrise.”

A clawed finger tapped the top of her head. “The only one I plan to be under is you, Bugaboo.”

“Keep that up and I’ll put you in the dirt myself.” She mumbled back.

“Of course, My Lady. Do you have any more plans stewing in that pretty little head of yours?”

Ladybug turned to face him, looking determined yet tired. “I’ll tie him up as best I can, but I won’t be surprised if he just rips his own arms off or something. You’ll have to be quick, lift up the robe and grab anything you see, throw it to me as soon you get it. I want to go to bed.”

Chat nodded in understanding, but wanted to do anything other than touch the rotting body of the akumatized man. If the Lady willed it, he’d do it. He silently cursed his unwavering loyalty as he leapt off the roof on Ladybug’s heels, quiet as they cut through the thick mist. 

The second they landed on the roof of a tomb there was a great gust of rancid air, and the white haze around them blew away into the night. Gravedigger moaned and the wind stopped as he closed his fist. Decrepit bodies and grime covered skeletons launched towards them, newly reanimated and frighteningly enthusiastic, but Ladybug was unphased and pointed towards the two lampposts at the entrance to the graveyard.

“I’ll get him there, cover me.”

And she was gone, soaring over the heads and skulls of Gravedigger’s tiny army. They reached for her, but Chat was already there after swallowing his pride and accepting that he’d have to touch a few dead bodies. His claws swiped and his staff whipped through the air, decapitating the graveyard’s former residents with ease. The smell was overwhelming even as he held his breath, but his only thoughts were of Ladybug and not letting a single bony finger touch her red clad body.

She made it to the lampposts quickly and safely, and Chat was already taunting Gravedigger into her general direction before she’d turned around. His brainless army was falling faster than he could animate them, and Chat was inching closer and closer as his eyes watered and his teeth ground against each other. Ladybug found her perch on top of a post, and readied her yo-yo.

The second Gravedigger stepped close enough, Ladybug whipped out her weapon and caught the arm holding the shovel. His other arm reached for the yo-yo string, but Chat swung his staff and deflected it with a mighty crack as the weapon connected with bone. Seconds later and Ladybug had wrapped the string around the two lampposts, leaping over Gravedigger’s head and looping the string around his other arm. She landed with a roll and gave a mighty heave, the string dragging the villain towards the posts until he was securely tied between them from either arm. 

Chat Noir wasted no time, propelling himself toward the undead akuma victim with a powerful cat-like leap. He squinted his eyes and clutched the bottom of Gravedigger’s grungy robe with one claw, lifting it up and flinging it over the monster’s head. 

There was a glint of red near Gravedigger’s chest, encased in a ribcage dripping with melted skin and buzzing with flies. There was no time. The force of Chat’s fist shattered the bones and he felt the droplets of bodily fluids pepper his face as he ripped whatever the glowing thing was from the open chest cavity. He didn’t even look at it before he turned and threw whatever it was directly at his waiting partner.

There was a rough squelch as Ladybug caught the still beating heart in her free hand, and her eyes went wide as the reality of what she was holding dawned on her. 

“Oh my god.” She said. 

She definitely didn’t get paid enough for this. 

“Ladybug!”

“Jesus fuck, Chat. I’m holding a human organ in my hand right now.”

Gravedigger had been struggling at his bonds until Chat had ripped the heart out, and now it was eerily silent as the heroes both stared at Ladybug’s fist.

Chat let out the breath he’d been holding and wiped his bloodied claws on the bottom half of his suit. “I’d make a joke about literally handing you my heart, but I think I’m too disgusted to think of anything good right now.”

“Do I…. do I crush it?”

“I heard eating the hearts of your enemies makes you stronger.”

Ladybug scrunched her face up as she stared at the still steadily beating heart. It was very surreal and she’d had no idea akumas could take up residence inside human body parts. She wanted to drop it and go home and lie down forever. 

“Chat, you do it.”

He flinched. “Do what?”

“Crush it. Step on it. Whatever.”

“No can do Bugaboo, that’s all you. It’s four in the morning and we’re fighting about who has to literally break a human heart.”

“Okay okay. I’ll do it on three, but I also hate you.”

Chat nodded and watched her, still grossed out but also a little amused. The organ had easily crumpled in Ladybug’s fist, silky red liquid dripping from between her fingers. The akuma emerged and Ladybug unwound her yo-yo from between the lampposts, swinging it through the air and capturing the tainted butterfly on the way down. 

A relieved sigh and a “Miraculous Ladybug!” later and everything was back to normal, bodies laid to rest and the blood wiped from their hands. It wasn’t the girl who had crushed the heart with her fist, but rather Chat Noir whose grin had vanished only seconds before he’d thrown up last night’s dinner in a nearby bush. He wiped his mouth on his arm and apologized to Ladybug for being so impolite.

“Let’s never do this again.” He said. 

Ladybug was ready to go home. Fight the undead in the morning, make cupcakes with fashion model Adrien Agreste in the evening. Just a normal girl with a normal life, indeed.

 

\---

 

Less than four hours later, Marinette found herself hard at work in the bakery’s kitchen, kneading dough until her arms turned to jelly. It was hard enough for her to drag herself out of bed with a full night’s sleep, but running on what she would barely consider a nap wasn’t doing her mood any favours. A tired Marinette was a grumpy Marinette, but her father was a seasoned pro at dealing with it.

“No complaining, Marinette,” Tom chided. “Your mother and I always tell you not to stay up so late sewing but you never seem to learn.”

“Yes, Papa.”

“Please don’t mix up the salt and the sugar again.”

“Yes, Papa.”

“Isn’t your friend Adrien coming over later today?”

“Yes Pap - shit, you’re right.”

Tom flicked the back of her head. “Language, little baker!”

Marinette blushed and tucked her hair behind her ear with a flour covered hand. Just last night she’d had trouble sleeping because she was so excited to spend some time with the object of her affections that she’d had trouble even lying down in bed. An early morning graveyard stroll was enough to make her completely forget, and she’d barely had enough energy to be miserable about having to get up so early, nevermind that she’d likely still be dragging her feet by the time Adrien arrived. At least she’d felt only excitement last night as opposed to crippling anxiety, that was a nice change of pace.

Her eyelids twitched as she worked the dough on the counter in front of her. She could hear her Papa stomping back and forth behind her from oven to cooling table and back to the oven again, moving buckets of sugar and pouring batter into the industrial mixer. The smell of fresh bread drifted out of the kitchen and into the store where Sabine was smiling behind the till. It was a typical morning at the Dupain-Cheng bakery, complete with a Marinette that would pass out if she weren’t standing up. The heat from the ovens made her feel like she was working in the bakery from hell. 

Her shift went by slowly and she wanted to do anything besides bake. She felt a little frustrated as she recalled that her plan was to make cupcakes with Adrien later on, but decided it would be worth it. Baking wasn’t a thing she loved to do, more so it was something she did enough that she was good at it, but not particularly gifted or passionate about it. If only she’d aspired to become a world famous baker instead of a fashion designer, life would be so much easier. 

Marinette hung up her icing covered apron around noon with her father’s blessing. Climbing the stairs to the apartment felt like torture in her sleep deprived state, and she’d barely made it to her room before Tikki had insisted that a nap was in order. She did have two hours at least before Adrien’s photoshoot was supposed to be over, so a couple hours in bed couldn’t hurt. She’d had the strength to wash her face of flour and to drag her shirt over her head and throw it across her room before plopping face first onto her bed. 

Tikki flittered about, giggling at her charge’s utter exhaustion before pulling the phone out of said charge’s pocket and setting the alarm to 1:45PM, just enough time for Marinette to compose herself before Adrien was due to arrive. She tried to ask if Marinette was okay after the fight earlier that morning, but the girl was dead to the world. 

“Oh, Marinette…” the kwami tutted. 

Tiny red paws flicked on the fan switch. Marinette probably didn’t want to wake up covered in sweat, at the very least. 

Something was bound to go wrong either way though, she supposed.

 

\---

 

The bell above the bakery door jingled cheerfully as Adrien stepped through the threshold and into the sweet smelling shop. 

“Bonjour, welcome!” Sabine greeted him.

“Salut, Mrs. Cheng,” he said cheerfully as he gave a little wave. “I’m here to see Marinette.”

Sabine nodded. “Marinette went upstairs to her room a while ago. You can head on up, the apartment door should be unlocked. She’s probably waiting for you.” She gestured to the doorway behind the bakery counter.

Adrien nodded. “Right, I’ll head up. Thank you Mrs. Cheng.”

He maneuvered his way around the counter and through the doorway that lead upstairs. He had to resist the urge to skip or run or do something else mildly embarrassing for someone who was doing something as normal as visiting a friend in their own home. 

He couldn’t help feeling excited, it wasn’t often he had one-on-one time with any of his friends besides Chloe, and he’d experienced more than enough of her for his entire lifetime. The fact that he was pretty sure he had the tiniest, most miniscule crush on Marinette was probably contributing to his current elation, but he was still in a strange place between enthusiastic acceptance and denial when it came to her. 

Today would probably give him the answers he was looking for.

“Salut, Marinette?” he called as he gently pushed open the front door. He looked around the apartment from where he stood and couldn’t find a single dark pigtail anywhere. She was probably upstairs in her room. 

He slowly shut the door behind him and slipped his sandals off, placing them squarely on the mat beside the entryway. It would probably be okay if he just went up to her room, right? Sabine had told him to go ahead, after all. Marinette was probably waiting for him to do whatever it was you did when you visited a friend to hang out. Maybe they would play videogames or watch a movie or something. 

He made his way up the stairs and knocked lightly on the closed hatch. It was a little awkward to crouch beneath it, but it was always polite to knock, he figured. When she didn’t answer, he figured that maybe she was listening to music or perhaps working on something distracting enough that she couldn’t hear him. 

He cautiously opened the hatch, careful not to let it slam down on the floor and stepped up into Marinette’s room, closing said hatch gently behind him. 

The rising heat from the bakery downstairs left Marinette's bright pink room sweltering, and at a glance he could see that there was a single fan in the room that did little to lift the heat, but there was still no Marinette to complain about it.

“Mari?”

And then he heard it, the gentle breathing. Enhanced hearing was truly a gift he appreciated as he realized the soft sounds were coming from the lofted bed. He mentally questioned why she would be napping, but was suddenly reminded of how tired he had been all morning at his photoshoot. 

After fighting the undead and suffering from recurring nausea as he periodically remembered the smell of the graveyard and the squelch of human remains, he’d wanted nothing more than to stay in bed until noon. Instead, he’d had to get up at 6:30AM to get primped and primed for a shoot. The only reason he’d made it through the day without passing out so far was currently passed out herself. 

He wondered for a moment if he should maybe just sit down and wait for her to wake up. Would it be weird if she woke up and he was just… sitting there? Would she think he was watching her or being a creep or something? With an almost uncomfortable calmness, he realized that there were dozens of pictures of himself taped to the wall behind her desk.

He recognized them from magazines and Gabriel brand ads, everything from thick winter coats to spring sportswear, all from within the last year. Since they’d met. 

If there was any doubt in his mind that Marinette might never give him a chance (if he ever decided he wanted to  _ chance _ anything), it was vanquished from his mind right then and there. She had pictures of him all over her walls, and he doubted it was because of the clothes he was modeling. 

Alya had called Marinette a creep in passing from time to time, and now he sort of realized why. It wasn’t  _ that _ creepy, was it? He recalled the boxes of Ladybug memorabilia hidden away in his closet and felt giddy. If Marinette was a creep, then so was he. They could both be creeps together.

He turned and headed for the stairs that lead to the loft, his bare toes making no noise as he made his way up. His head rose above the mattress and he was met with the sight of a tiny sleeping girl face down and starfished out across her entire bed, mouth open with a thin line of drool leaking onto her pillow. His cheeks burned as his eyes raked across her very naked back, a thin strip of skin covered only by the fabric of her light pink bra. She had a patch of dark skin, a messy splotch of a birthmark just above the small of her back. At least she was wearing shorts.

Her hands clutched at her sheets and she groaned in her sleep, tiny fingers reminding Adrien of the time they’d been grabbing at his shirt. The time her hand had splayed out across his hip as he did the same to her. The hips that were right in front of him, right now, just barely covered by pale yellow shorts.

The heat in his face rushed below his stomach and pooled in the most inconvenient possible place. 

_ Good. Great. _

He felt like he should do something but he wasn’t sure what the best course of action was. He’d been in Marinette’s room alone with her for less than ten minutes and he was already suffering from a poorly timed erection. Adrien silently prayed that he was dreaming, asleep at home in his own bed and out like a light after watching the other girl that invaded his dreams crush a human heart with her gloved hands. 

Life was never that easy for Adrien, and sure enough his gaze eventually drifted to the wall on the left side of the bed, where just above Marinette’s head was a page from a magazine, a picture of himself in the only underwear ad he’d ever posed for in his entire life. Agreste brand boxer briefs. 

_ GOOD. GREAT. _

“Hnnnnnng,” Marinette mumbled quietly from her bed. 

Adrien was completely frozen and he wanted to scream, shout, transform into Chat and spring across the rooftops, anything to relieve the tension he’d created and remove the uncomfortable pressure from between his legs. 

Marinette’s eyes lazily opened and her hand let go of the sheets before wiping the drool from her lips. She yawned and pushed herself up, twisting the upper half of her body around until she could make out the colourful blob at the foot of her bed.

“Maman?” she asked, sleepiness evident in her voice. 

“Um.” Adrien muttered nervously.

He couldn’t help but realize that he had a front row eye level seat to the Marinette’s breasts show, and he struggled to look absolutely anywhere else. She was small and adorable, and so was her chest, he noted. And her abs…

Marinette rubbed at her eyes before they shot wide open only seconds later.

“ADRIEN. HELLO.”

“Uh, salut Marinette?”

The silence was deafening as they stared at each other. Realization slowly dawned on Marinette that she’d thrown her shirt beneath her desk before climbing into bed. Tikki had set her alarm, but she’d only woken up long enough to shut it off when it had started beeping less than thirty minutes ago. And now Adrien was here, at the foot of her bed. 

She squeaked and pulled the sheets up over her chest.

“I’m sorry!” Adrien shouted, glad that his lower half wasn’t visible at the moment. “I was just, I mean I - you were, uhhhhh. I’ll go wait. Downstairs. In the living room.” He scrambled down the steps and threw open the hatch, slamming it on his way down.

Marinette was still unmoving, coming to terms with what had just happened and realizing what her crush had just witnessed. 

_ Oh god, the magazine clippings. He’s seen them. _

There was a brief debate whether or not she could throw herself off the balcony. There were pros and cons, most likely. There was the issue of her quest for Adrien’s friendship. Friends do things by accident all the time. She was supposed to work on being Adrien’s friend, and to do that she’d have to get over herself. Adrien was polite, a real gentleman, he’d probably just been looking for her and the whole seeing her shirtless thing was a great big bad luck accident. 

She resolved that she’d have to get dressed, go downstairs, and talk to Adrien. Maybe she’d be able to explain her magazine cut-outs before he told her he never wanted to see her again. She sighed. Could today get any worse?

After making herself look as presentable as she could, she made her way downstairs only to find Adrien sitting up straight on the couch, shoulders square and fiddling with his hands. He noticed her as soon as she got to the bottom of the stairs, and they stared at each other, both struggling not to go red faced.

“I’m sorry!” they both shouted at the same time.

“Your shirt-”

“The pictures-”

“I didn’t mean to, honest-”

“I’ll take them down, it’s weird-”

“No, no, it’s fine! You can leave them,” Adrien interjected a little too quickly. 

“Um, o-okay. If that’s fine with you. And it’s okay, I don’t mind, you’ve seen me without my shirt on before, right?”

He had, but it had been a little bit different when Alya and Nino were there with them at the mall. It wasn’t the same as being in Marinette’s room, alone in her apartment and warmed by the heat drifting up from the bakery. It wasn’t the same when pictures of himself were dotting the walls, looking at Marinette every day.

Adrien couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Okay, as long as you’re fine with it. I’m still sorry, though.”

The awkward tension in the air had vanished alongside Adrien’s laugh, and Marinette breathed a sigh of relief. “If anyone should be sorry it’s me, I set an alarm and everything and I still slept too long. I had a rough morning I guess.”

“Tell me about it,” Adrien said as he rolled his eyes. “I had to hold a briefcase up for like four hours at the shoot this morning.”

_ I also threw up everything I ate last night in a bush. _ Come to think of it, he hadn’t actually eaten anything besides a single banana as he’d walked out the door of the mansion. Hungry and tired, the worst combination on the worst possible day.

Adrien brought his hand up to his stomach. “You wouldn’t happen to have anything to eat, would you?”

“Oh! Of course, I mean I was hoping we could maybe make… cupcakes? But if you’re hungry now I can get you something.” Marinette replied as she walked towards the fridge.

“Make cupcakes? I mean, I haven’t baked in a really long time, but that sounds good.”

“You’re sure?”

“How could I say no to making cupcakes with a baker’s daughter?”

Marinette covered her mouth as she giggled. “I’m not  _ that _ good, you know. I just have experience.”

The last remnants of the awkward tension evaporated in record time, a stark contrast to what either of them genuinely expected. Marinette had recovered without needing to leave the room or make a funny noise, and Adrien had shoved his lingering insecurities beneath a very lumpy metaphorical rug. It was a little busy under there these days, but the effort was worth it.

Marinette began fishing through the kitchen cabinets, fetching mixing bowls, spoons, and a well-used cupcake pan. Adrien got up from the couch and made his way over to the tiny kitchen, watching Marinette flitter about intently as if he hadn’t just made them both feel incredibly awkward only moments ago.

“Anything I can help you find?” He asked.

“Eggs are in the fridge, vanilla extract in the high cupboard over there, I can’t reach it.” She pointed. This Marinette was familiar to him. This was class president Marinette, the Marinette that was confident in what she was doing, the leader inside that surfaced from time to time. Her tone was all business and determination, like she knew exactly what she was doing. Cupcakes were clearly a serious endeavor. 

Adrien did as he was told as Marinette spread out everything she’d gathered on the kitchen counter. She skipped over to the pantry to fetch the sugar and decided to grab an extra roll of paper towel, just in case.

Adrien set the eggs and vanilla down next to the big silver mixing bowl, hopping out of the way as Marinette bounced back towards the counter. “How long has it been since you’ve baked anything?”

Adrien tapped his chin. “The last time was probably when my mom was still around.”

Marinette’s face contorted as she instantly regretted asking the question. Adrien quickly rested his hand on her shoulder. “No, it’s fine Mari. I’m over it, don’t worry too much about it.”

“Okay, I just didn’t mean to pry.”

“You can pry all you like. I don’t talk about her much because nobody ever asks about her.”

Marinette turned around and busied herself with arranging everything she’d fetched. 

“Did she - I mean is she-”

“Dead? No. I don’t know where she is, but she’s somewhere. What should I be doing?”

Marinette handed him a bowl and a whisk. “You need to put the sugar and butter in, use those measuring cups there. Mix it and don’t stop until I tell you to, I have to find the paper cupcake cup thingies. Was your mom nice?”

Adrien grabbed the measuring cups and concentrated on pouring the sugar. “Yeah, she was always so happy and carefree. I never got to go in the kitchen unless she was there, so sometimes we’d make a cake together or something. Or I guess she would and I’d help. I was just a kid back then.”

“And you haven’t baked since then?” Marinette asked as she rifled through a drawer.

“Baked, cooked, anything to do with the kitchen. I have a personal chef, I’m supposed to watch my figure.”

“Oh yeah, the model thing.” Marinette said as she began putting the paper cups into the divots in the cupcake tray.

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Adrien said as he mixed the sugar into the butter.

Marinette gave him an odd look. “It’s just strange to come across someone that never even uses their own kitchen. Even Nino can cook, though I guess he only really makes macaroni and cheese.”

Adrien shrugged. “Comes with the last name I guess. I’d do more if I could.”

“Of course.” Marinette nodded in understanding. 

She finished placing the paper cups and took a couple eggs from the carton before sliding it back in the fridge. She gestured for him to stop whisking and handed him the eggs. 

“Break them and stir in the yolk and whites one at a time. Be careful not to get any shell in or you might get a crunchy cupcake.”

“How should I break them?”

She pointed at the edge of the counter. “Just tap them lightly on the counter’s edge. Here, I’ll do one.”

She took an egg back from him and gracefully cracked the egg on the edge, spreading the two halves of the shell apart to let the insides fall into the bowl, all with one hand.

“You can use two hands, I’m just used to doing it fast with one hand when I work downstairs.”

Adrien nodded and stepped towards the counter. When he cracked the egg against the edge of the counter, it shattered to pieces and the yoke broke as it dripped down the side of the cupboard before sliding to the floor. 

“Shit,” Adrien said as his hand shot behind his head. “I’ll clean it up, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry, it’s just egg.” She said as she handed him the paper towel. “I’ll get another, you can try again.”

The second egg Adrien cracked managed to make it into the bowl, along with bits of the shell. Marinette hushed him before he could say anything and skillfully fished the bits out of the mixture with a small spoon.

She handed the whisk back to him. “Mix this together, I’ll mix the flour with the baking soda and the milk. Can I ask why your mother sounds so nice but your father is so… um…”

“You can say it, he’s terrible. He still loves me I guess, but he’s not the world’s number one dad.”

“Was he always that way?”

“No,” Adrien answered as he mixed the eggs in. “He was much more laid back before Mom disappeared. I do what I can to make him happy, though.”

Marinette frowned while she poured the milk. “Is that why you model and stuff?”

“Kind of. I mean I’m good at it, and it puts money in my pocket too. I don’t want to do it forever, probably.”

Marinette nodded. “What else would you want to do?”

“Dunno, but I like science. Something sciency.”

Marinette reached for the bowl in his hands while she set the oven to preheat. Adrien followed behind her as she poured what he’d been mixing into her bowl gradually, stopping to fold the ingredients into each other. 

“This whole baking thing seems easy enough,” he commented.

Marinette poked his cheek. “You got a whole egg on the floor.”

“I’ve never cracked an egg before, you can’t judge me!”

Marinette hummed to herself. “The first time I cracked an egg I cracked all twelve of them. I was six years old and I threw the whole carton down the stairs.”

“What a rebel.”

“You have no idea. I once made an entire batch of sugar cookies with salt instead of sugar, though that was less rebellious and more accidental.”

Adrien chuckled. “You were a true wild child.”

Marinette shook her head. “No, that happened like four weeks ago, it was terrible. I chugged a whole glass of milk after I shoved a cookie in my mouth.”

Adrien’s hand flew to his mouth so he wouldn’t burst out laughing, clutching at his stomach with his other hand. “That’s adorable.” He managed to get out.

Marinette froze and Adrien could see the blush creeping up her neck. The moment was tense and Adrien wondered if he’d gone too far somehow, even though it had just slipped out. It was just a compliment, an observation, right?

He almost let out a sigh of relief as Marinette swallowed and turned to face him, handing him the bowl of fully mixed batter. 

“Put about this much in each cup,” she said, spacing two fingers roughly two inches apart.

Adrien nodded and got to work as Marinette began stacking the used baking tools in the sink. The kitchen was quiet as they both concentrated on their tasks, with Marinette only pausing to stare for a moment when she noticed Adrien’s tongue poking out of his mouth in concentration. It reminded her of someone.

When he was done filling the cups, Marinette took the tray and slid it into the oven. She grabbed the timer on the stovetop and set it for twenty minutes.

“And now we wait.” she said.

They leaned back against the counter contentedly.

“This is fun, this baking thing.” Adrien commented.

“No,” Marinette replied. “The fun part is the icing and the eating.”

“Oh yeah, what are we-”

“Marinette!” a voice called out from the apartment door. It was Mr. Dupain, covered head to toe in flour and sweating up a storm. 

“Papa?”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, daughter-o-mine, but we could really use your help in the bakery for a bit. Unexpected last minute order, I need you to keep up with the bread while I take care of it.”

Marinette sighed quietly. “Yes Papa, let me load the dishwasher and I’ll come right down.”

“I’ll do it, the dishes I mean.” Adrien said. “You did most of the cupcake work anyway, it makes sense if I do the dishes.”

Marinette nodded. “Okay, I’ll try to be quick. Just put all the dishes in, put in some soap and press the start button, the settings should already be right.”

And then she was gone, leaving Adrien alone in her kitchen. 

Being at Marinette’s house was so much better than being at home. He felt a little bit like Chat Noir at the moment, being able to do things like bake and walk into a sleeping girl’s room and listen to Mr. Dupain’s kind and homely voice. Despite his exhaustion and the pressing heat, he was happier than he’d been all week. And now he had to load a dishwasher, something else he’d never done before. The mansion had it’s own employees to do things like that, but he was sure it would be easy, just put the dishes in and turn it on.

He opened the dishwasher and filled it carefully with the dishes from the sink. It wasn’t too difficult fitting everything in, it was simple. Soap, he needed to put soap in. He looked around and spotted the dish liquid next to the sink, apple green and apple scented. He found the little soap compartment and pondered about how much he should put in, but decided more soap than he needed wouldn’t hurt. 

He filled it up and closed it before shutting the dishwasher door and pressing the start button.

Satisfied, he pulled out his phone and sat down on the couch, only the soft swishing of the washer and the low hum of the window air conditioner for company. Time to catch up on the Ladyblog.

It was ten minutes later when the oven timer beeped and Marinette walked in through the door at the same time. He looked up from his phone and immediately wanted the couch to swallow him whole. Marinette walked forward very, very slowly towards the kitchen, eyes wide and mouth drawn into a thin line. Her hands grabbed at her pigtails. The timer beeped in the background.

“Adrien.”

He gulped.

“Mari.”

“Which soap did you put in the dishwasher.”

The now petrified boy rose from the couch and pointed sheepishly at the green dish liquid beside the sink. He’d put dish soap in the dishwasher.

“I fucked up?”

Marinette nodded. “You fucked up.” she whispered.

The kitchen was covered in sudsy apple scented bubbles. All over the floor, climbing up the cupboards and the front of the fridge, pouring endlessly out from the sides of the washer and covering every inch of the kitchen tile. It slowly seeped towards the living room, creeping across the floor like a living, breathing creature. 

This was the end for Marinette. Tired from lack of sleep, physically exhausted from working in the bakery, emotionally overloaded from Adrien’s visit, hot and sweaty thanks to the infernal sun, and now slowly going deaf as the timer beeped over and over from the stovetop. It was a disaster. She did the only thing she could think to do at that very moment.

She laid down on the floor and stared at the ceiling, hands neatly folded across her stomach.

Five minutes later, Sabine came upstairs to find her kitchen in ruins and two teenagers lying defeated on the floor, side by side. The cupcakes were burning, she noted. 

“Go upstairs,” She said to the two lumps on the floor. They complied in silence.

 

\---

 

“I mean it could have gone worse.” Adrien piped up from the chaise. 

Marinette was spinning idly around and around in her desk chair, her nervousness long abandoned and overtiredness seeping in. Baking was an autopilot mode for her, and concentrating on the cupcakes had made talking to Adrien easier than it had ever been before. She’d been worried that she’d regress again after they were done and she ran out of things to occupy her subconscious, but she was far too tired now to give any shits whatsoever.

Adrien had done something she could only imagine herself doing, and it was kind of hilarious, but also really, really sad. She wanted to laugh, but she also wanted to cry. 

He was right though, it could have gone worse.

“I suppose we didn’t set anything on fire.” Marinette muttered.

Adrien’s eyebrows rose. “Have you done that before?”

“I won’t answer that.”

Adrien snickered and winked. “Of course you haven’t, how rude of me to assume.”

Marinette stopped spinning and looked at him with lidded eyes. Bluebell blue locked with striking viridian. They held the gaze, daring each other to break first, to look away. Marinette already knew she would lose, Adrien had been trained to hold his expressions for most of his life, for hours on end. He had a poker face of stone, and she could barely look herself in the eye in the mirror. There would be no contest.

Marinette’s lip quirked, just the very corner of her mouth. She pursed her lips and clenched her fists at her sides, breathing as lightly as she could as the fan droned on from her loft. The mall. The lake. The sleepover. Her kitchen. Actual model Adrien Agreste was a gigantic klutz, just like her.

What a concept.

Marinette absolutely erupted with laughter, and Adrien followed right behind her. They were a pair of morons, really, but neither of them had the energy to be properly embarrassed anymore. Adrien paused for a split second before giggling like a little girl when Marinette snorted, and she struggled to pick up a pillow off the floor and chuck it at him. 

“You put the wrong soap in!” she squealed.

“I didn’t know!”

“I can’t believe you!”

“Mariiiiiii.” Adrien groaned through his laughter.

It was a while before either of them calmed down enough to breathe properly, but they’d stopped their laughfest just in time for Tom to prop open the hatch and present them with grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. The kitchen had been saved, evidently. 

Marinette had taken dainty little bites of hers while Adrien had all but inhaled his, hunger still nagging at him from before he’d even arrived. The rest of the evening was lazy and hot, spent in front of Marinette’s monitor playing Mortal Kombat and poking fun at each other’s ineptitude. It was easy to fall into sarcastic quips and humble bragging, as if they’d been doing it for months already. There was a comfortable familiarity in the air that had never been there before, and Marinette found that she had finally made peace with her more jittery side. No stutters. No odd sounds or inhuman noises. Just two friends disemboweling each other on the dimmed screen in front of them.

Which of course, lead to the cherry on top of their adventurous evening. The blood, the guts, the virtual carnage on the monitor was enough to remind Adrien of the smell he’d suffered at the hands of the very real gutted akuma he’d fought in the morning. 

He stood up suddenly, throwing his controller to the desk. 

“I have to- ugh” He lurched and covered his hand with his mouth.

Before Marinette could ask him what was wrong, he’d thrown himself into her tiny washroom and vomited the food he’d eaten less than an hour ago into her toilet. He’d expected her to be disgusted, but she’d instead sat behind him on the cold tile floor and quietly rubbed his back as he expelled the contents of his stomach. When he’d felt that he’d finished, he rested his forehead on the edge of the toilet seat. 

Marinette rose and reached into the cupboard under her sink for a washcloth before running it under cold water and handing it to him. He wiped his mouth miserably and stood up, accepting the cup of water she handed to him when he was done. He gargled it before spitting it into her sink and taking a few deep breaths. 

“Are you- are you squeamish?” Marinette peeped from behind him. “We can play something else, you know.”

He shook his head. “No, not usually. I think today has just… I mean, it’s been the best and worst day ever, kind of.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m tired, I had a shitty morning, but then I came over and I know we haven’t done much besides ruin your kitchen, but it’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time. I guess I’m just exhausted.”

Marinette could sympathize. “The heat probably isn’t helping either.”

“I feel like death.”

“You look like death.”

Adrien ran his hand through his hair and smiled wryly. “I try my best, Mari.”

She was smiling at him and it was the greatest thing in the world. 

They cleaned up the washroom and turned off the game, putting the controllers away in a box under Marinette’s desk. The sun had started to set by then, but the warm air remained as Marinette’s fan gave one last struggle before dying completely. She’d sighed in acceptance before taking it down from the loft and putting it out of the way under the window. They’d stopped and stood there, together, looking out at the crimson and orange hues dotted by clouds and the occasional twinkle of early evening stars. 

She turned to look at him and he met her gaze as fast as he could without snapping his neck.

“Do you want to sleep over?”

Of course he did. 

“Are your parents okay with that?”

Marinette nodded. 

Adrien fished his phone out of his back pocket before dialing Nathalie and asking if he had anything planned for the morning. Making up excuses to do things on the fly had become his new specialty as of late, but tonight he wasn’t inclined to put in any more effort than he had to, instead resorting to begging Nathalie to let him stay over at a girl’s house without telling his father.

Nathalie was all business as usual, but she’d agreed that he could do what he liked as long as he gave her the address he was at and wasn’t late for his Chinese lessons the following afternoon. Gabriel likely wouldn’t even notice he was gone.

Of course, it had helped that Marinette was the girl that won his father’s contest. If there was anyone in his class that his father trusted, it would probably be hard working fashion designer Marinette Dupain-Cheng. 

At least, he hoped so. 

If Nathalie could convince Gabriel to let his son go to school like a real human being, he was pretty sure she could work miracles for sleepovers too.

It wasn’t long before the Gorilla pulled up beside the bakery and Adrien hopped down the stairs two at a time to grab an overnight bag from Nathalie through the window. He’d tried to thank her but she’d waved him off, and he’d spent no time racing back up the stairs to Marinette’s room. Tom and Sabine had smiled almost too enthusiastically at him as he walked back into the apartment, wishing him a goodnight before heading off to bed themselves. It was barely 8:30 but he supposed they had to get up early to open the bakery. It felt nice that they trusted him enough to let him sleep in Marinette’s room, then again they had mentioned that she talked about him a lot the last time he’d been over. Maybe that had something to do with it.

Marinette had already drawn the curtains shut and turned out all the lights save for the ones above her bed, casting the pink room into a gentle darkness peppered with fairy lights. She’d already changed into light pink shorts and a big shirt, and she looked about as tired as he felt. He shuffled into her washroom to put on his own sleepwear, sweatpants and a white t-shirt.

Marinette was sitting cross legged on her chaise with her phone in her tiny hands when he came out.

“It’s Alya.” She said.

“Hm.” 

He sat down next to her and crossed his own legs.

“She’s been texting me all day but I’ve been kind of ignoring it.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” Marinette confirmed as her fingers typed furiously. “She was worried I died or something.”

Adrien quirked an eyebrow. “Died? Does she think I’m out to get you or something?”

Marinette shook her head. “No, kind of the other way around.”

“What do you mean?”

Marinette sighed and glanced at him before getting up to plug her phone into the charger on her desk. The nerves were coming back, but she couldn’t chicken out now. Now was a good time, probably.

She slowly sat back down next to him and fiddled with her thumbs instead of meeting his gaze.

“I don’t want this to be weird, but I guess it was kind of obvious after you saw all my pictures of you.”

Adrien glanced around the room, his night vision easily letting him pick out the bits of paper taped to her wall above her desk, even shadowed by the loft.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about those. Mostly.”

“Mostly?”

“Hard to forget the moment you find out a cute girl has pictures of you all over her room.” He smirked

Marinette blushed and pulled at her pigtails. “I like you.”

“I threw up in your toilet.”

“Adrien!” She smacked his arm and turned even redder. “You’re not making this easy for me!”

He laughed at her. “I guess that’s why you could barely talk to me for a whole year. What changed?”

Marinette shrugged and said nothing. She was exhausted and she’d just admitted the biggest secret she’d been keeping from him, outside of the fact that she was in fact Ladybug. Sweat ran down her back and she yawned, barely ready to deal with the rejection she was expecting to happen at any moment. He probably wanted to go home, now. The entire day had been a mess from start to finish, may as well keep the trend going, right?

But when she finally met his gaze, she found that he was smiling softly. He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t cringing. 

He put his hand on her shoulder. “I think it’s time for bed, what about you?”

Her answer was to pull her ties from her hair, brushing her fingers through it and letting it fall down her back. She stood and looked from her bed to the chaise they’d been sitting on.

“Y-you can take the bed, I’ll sleep on the chaise.”

Adrien’s hand fisted the plush cushioning beneath him. “No no, it’s your bed Marinette, I’ll sleep on the chaise if you want me to.”

“You should sleep where you want. The bed is much nicer, probably.”

“Okay,” he said calmly. He looked from her to her loft and back. “Do you want to share?”

“What?”

“The bed. I can sleep where I want, right?”

Marinette nodded vigorously. “Yes, okay, sure. The bed. Share.”

She turned and practically launched herself up the stairs and out of his sight. It was probably easier to not asked her and just do it if what happened at Max’s house was any indication, but things were different now that she’d admitted what he’d been suspecting. That she liked him. There was a sudden flood of warmth in his chest as she peeked out over the railing above. 

“Eep.” She said before falling back onto her bed.

Adrien rose from the chaise and made his way up the stairs on all fours, crawling onto her bed like a lazy cat. Marinette was sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest on the right, leaning against the head of her giant cat pillow. 

“You can have that side.” She managed to get out.

Adrien nodded and crawled to the space next to her, lying on his stomach and propping his head up with his hands. Marinette hadn’t moved.

“You gonna sleep like that?”

“Hm? Oh, no. Sorry.” She snapped out of her frozen state and lied down carefully, putting at least a foot of space between them. She didn’t look at him, instead choosing to stare at her fabric covered skylight. The warmth gradually turned into a damp hotness without Marinette’s fan to provide a steady breeze. He’d never get to sleep like this.

“Do you mind if I take my shirt off?” He asked. “I’m sweating like crazy.”

“Sure.” Marinette replied, though he could barely hear her. 

He sat up and tugged his shirt over his head before tossing it to the foot of the bed, glad to be rid of the uncomfortable fabric. Marinette was likely suffering in silence, sweat pooling at her back and in her armpits. The sheets on her bed were light, but neither of them dared to crawl under them. She’d probably never sleep unless he made her do something about the heat.

“You can take your shirt off too if it’s too hot.That’s why you weren’t wearing one before, right? I don’t mind. I won’t even look.” Adrien whispered.

Marinette said nothing, still staring up and not looking in his general direction. Her hands clasped and unclasped each other. 

Marinette whispered something in the silence. 

Adrien blinked. “Hm?”

“You can look, it’s fine.” Marinette repeated.

Before he could respond, she’d sat up and flung her own shirt to the foot of the bed before lying down on her stomach like he had, though this time her head was turned to the side, facing him. 

Adrien’s breath hitched. It wasn’t polite to look, but politeness was for another day, another time. His eyes raked greedily across her pale skin, from her milky white shoulders across the dip of her back and over the gentle curve of her hips. Her breathing was soft and shallow, eyelids drooping as she remained mute while he took her in. 

He turned his body to the side, facing Marinette, and her eyes were quick to dart to his chest, taking in his own fitness that he’d attempted to show her once before. She was allowed to look, she could look and stare all she wanted, he decided. The sheets rumpled softly as she mimicked him and turned her body on its side, resting her head on top of her right arm.

Their eyes met briefly before Marinette sat up and reached over Adrien’s chest to flick off the fairy lights, and as she moved to settle back down he caught her wrist gently in his hand. Marinette stilled and looked down at him, eyes a little wider than before. She remained silent as Adrien guided her back down to the bed, snaking his right arm under her and resting it on her upper back. Adrien’s hands burned as they met the naked skin of the girl beside him, but he didn’t care, he needed to touch her.

He rolled them back to their sides and placed Marinette’s hand on his thin waist before draping his left hand over her hip. With both arms securely wrapped around her, he drew her close until she was right against his chest, her breath tickling his neck. He could feel her shiver as their bare skin met and came to rest pressed together from top to bottom. His legs nudged at hers until they moved and allowed them to become tangled together. Then silence.

Adrien wondered momentarily if he’d gone too far when he felt that she was still tense, but found himself relieved as she exhaled and finally settled against him, her hand slipping farther across his waist until it met his back. Sleep was overcoming him faster than he wanted now that he had this moment, this space where he could hold Marinette against him and feel her head tucked under his chin. In his last moment of wakefulness, he tangled his hand in Marinette’s thick dark hair and let a low rumble build in his chest. 

She didn’t stay awake long enough to listen to the soft purr of content as it cradled her in the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JESUS FUCK, CHAT


	7. Marinette Dunks Like a Pro

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends, here is a chapter. We are so very close to the fun, now. 
> 
> Art keeps me busier than I'd like right now, but the next chapter is almost ready to go. Shouldn't be too long of a wait.

Marinette was warm. Content. Comfortable.

The pastel pink sheets beneath her remained cool to the touch, but she dared not unravel herself from the boy next to her despite the cramp forming in her right arm. Part of her was wondering if everything had been some kind of heat-induced hallucination, or maybe a dream, but he was still there breathing calmly beside her, arms loosely holding her close.

She was still drowsy, lying on the edge of wakefulness but unwilling to let go of Adrien in case he stirred and the moment ended. She’d worked hard for this moment, whatever it was, and she wasn’t about to let it pass her by after falling asleep so quickly the night before. Now was the time to savour the fruits of her labour. Or was it his labour? After what he’d said to her she wasn’t entirely sure anymore.

Alya’s words of wisdom echoed in the back of her mind.

“He likes you.”

He does?

“He likes you.”

Maybe he does. This was all his fault anyway, he’d been the one who wanted to share the bed, who told her she could take her shirt off and who pulled her close. He’d also been the one to put the wrong soap in the dishwasher and beg his father’s assistant to let him be a normal child for one night over the phone. Watching him utterly shatter an egg against her counter had been a humbling experience.

Everything he’d done - they’d done- yesterday should have been embarrassing, should have launched her well beyond her usual klutz capacity and into the realm of mortification, but the combination of exhaustion and self realization that actual model Adrien Agreste was just a regular person like her had saved her from her familiar fate.

Adrien Agreste wasn’t perfect. And she loved him all the more for it.

He wasn’t perfect in the way she’d thought before, he wasn’t a flawless human being who was talented at everything and smoother than silk, he wasn’t an idol to be worshipped (or stalked, but you know, she’s definitely not a stalker).

He was perfect because even though he’d dragged her into a lake, even though he’d dumped punch all over himself and had never used a kitchen on his own before, her opinion of him hadn’t changed at all. He was kind, polite, funny at the best of times and calm at the worst. He was also an embarrassing wreck of a human being from time to time. It took her until she was wrapped up with him in her bed on a warm summer’s morning to realize that she’d been slowly coming to accept who he was all along. Who he is.

And also what was pressed up against the inside of her thigh. That was definitely him too.

She didn’t have time to really consider the implications before Adrien groaned and mumbled something about bugs, tightening his grip on her and pushing his head into her pillow. Marinette was still reluctant about moving, but her arm was really starting to hurt and they should probably untangle themselves anyway before her Maman came upstairs. Adrien had been allowed to stay over on the condition that he slept on the chaise, but that was a trivial detail in the grand scheme of things.

As she slowly came into a more wakeful state, the heat of his bare skin on hers sent her into some kind of post-exhaustion shock. Adrien was half naked, hot (in both senses of the word) and had himself wrapped around her as if she were some kind of teddy bear.

“Hnnnnnngh” Adrien said, before she could even think about suppressing the ecstatic squeal that came out of her mouth. The sheets were cool and they ruffled softly as Adrien turned his head so he was no longer face-down on the pillow. His eyes remained slitted as he groaned again, all the while keeping his loosening grip on Marinette.

“Hm?” Was all he said.

With sleep still heavy in his eyes and his golden hair splayed out every which way, Marinette could now brag that she’d witnessed Adrien’s morning bed head first-hand. It was cute, adorable even, and just a tiny bit funny. She couldn’t help but giggle, the smallest of tired smiles gracing her face.

“Morning.” She whispered.

“Nooooooooooo.” Adrien replied as he scrunched his eyes closed and flung a sheet over his head, arm immediately wrapping itself back around the hip of the girl across from him.

“It’s too hot Adrien,” Marinette mumbled. “My arm is asleep, help.”

“Go back to bed.”

His voice was little more than a mumble from beneath the sheet.

“But it’s time to get up, Maman will make us pancakes.”

“It’s bedtiiiime Mari, go to bed.” He groaned.

Their skin was warm and a little bit stuck together, but Adrien peeled his arm away from her side again, only long enough to throw the sheet he was under over Marinette’s head as well. She huffed and rubbed at her eyes with her free arm, then squeaked when Adrien’s large hands pulled her flush up against him, her head tucked under his chin.

Marinette had utterly no idea what to do when she felt the hardness up against her leg again through both of their pyjama bottoms. She didn’t want him to be embarrassed about it or anything, but it was definitely there and she should probably say something, maybe he was still a bit out of it and didn’t know.

Instead of saying anything, she opted to carefully nudge his leg with her knee. When he didn’t even move, she nudged him again a little more forcefully. Again, he didn’t move or say anything, so the logical course of action in Marinette’s mind was to nudge him even harder, rolling her whole bottom half into his with a frustrated exhale of morning breath.

Adrien’s arm tightened around her waist.

“Uh, you should probably stop doing that.” Adrien murmured against her hair.

Marinette froze and tried to clutch at her sheets with her still-asleep arm beneath Adrien, eyes wide open as she realized exactly what she’d been doing to him. She let out a small high pitched whine as the tension mounted.

“Marinette?”

“I’m sorRY!” She yelped as she tried to launch her entire body away from his. Peeling her arm from his back felt weird, but the weirdness was overpowered by the pain she felt in her skull as it connected with the bottom of Adrien’s jaw. His hands ripped from her sides as they shot up to clutch at his chin, and Marinette’s knee clacked against his own before coming dangerously close to the Agreste family jewels as they separated.

Marinette’s hands grabbed at the sheets covering the mattress, but she collapsed after putting just over a foot between herself and Adrien when she tried to support herself with her still sleeping arm. The pins and needles in her arm felt absolutely awful, but less awful than she felt for slamming her head into Adrien’s mouth.

He was still lying there, eyes watering a little and hands covering his mouth.

“Adrien, shit! I’m sorry, I was just- I mean I didn’t-”

“I thinth I bith my tongue.” He said, calm as can be but a little visibly startled. He was awake now, at least.

“I’m such an idiot.” Marinette frowned as she clutched at her hair and pulled. “I’m sorry, do you need ice or something? Sorry sorry sorry!”

Adrien wrinkled his nose. “Am I bleeding? My mouth tastes like blood.” He opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out a little. “I’m probably bleeding.”

Marinette wanted to cry, really, really badly. Only she could ruin something so serene, a moment so perfect.

“Ah, yeah you’re bleeding a little. I’m awful, I’ll go get… something. How do you stop tongues from bleeding?”

Adrien chuckled as he wiped the tears from his eyes. “It’s okay, Marinette, really. It was just an accident! You’re not an idiot.”

“But I am! I was just trying to- but I didn’t want to embarrass you-”

He shushed her with a wave of a hand.

“It’s not embarrassing, Mari. It just kinda happens, just tell me if it bothers you. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable or anything, I should be the one apologizing.”

“I mean it doesn’t bother me but I thought it might bother you? I mean you know I like you and we’re here in my bed and you’re bleeding and I’m tired and you’re tired-”

“Mari, I’m fine. Really.”

Marinette whimpered. “Okay, okay, I’m calm,” she breathed. “You’re okay, this is okay.”

Adrien nodded, hair brushing against her pillow. “This is okay.”

She nodded back. “This is fine.”

Marinette absently fiddled with one of the eyes on her cat pillow. Adrien was lying down on her bed, his drowsy expression and mussed hair still looking as attractive as ever. It was quiet as beams of sunlight began to stretch across the bright pink room.

Marinette was still a little upset at her stupid idea, but eased herself down to lie on the bed next to Adrien once again anyway. His breathing was soft and he was still emanating warmth, and being there with him, just lying next to him, was almost reassuring. Reassuring that he was okay, they were both okay, and her clumsiness wasn’t anything to dwell on. If this was going to be anything, she needed to stop dwelling on the past.

He was looking at her eyes.

People had complimented her on the colour before, as if she had any control over what they looked like whatsoever, as if she intentionally put such a striking shade of blue into her eye sockets every day with any conscious thought at all. He wasn’t giving her the kind of look of eyeball appreciation that she was familiar with though, he looked more like he was...observing. Like he was searching for something.

She had a pretty good view of his own brilliant green eyes of course, a colour she insisted was way more beautiful than the bluebell blue she saw every day in the mirror. He’d probably look really nice in a black suit, something fitted and expensive and accented with a green tie or a handkerchief to round out the look. Maybe she should have made the scarf she’d given him green, but he’d seemed happy with it anyway. Mostly because he thought it was from his father.

“What’s your favourite colour?” Marinette asked suddenly.

He smiled and his eyelids lowered a little.

“Definitely blue.”

“Oh, that’s-”

They were interrupted by a loud buzz and the opening theme to Sailor Moon filling the room at an unreasonably high pitch. Marinette was halfway to asking what the fuck is that? before she noticed that Adrien had turned a flustered shade of red.

“That’s uhhhh… that’s my phone. Hang on.”

He pushed himself up and clambered down the ladder, looking anywhere but at Marinette. She couldn’t help but laugh out loud as his head disappeared from her field of vision.

“You like Sailor Moon?”

“No.” He called up from the floor as he rummaged through his overnight bag. “Yes. Maybe.”

“We should watch it sometime.”

The ruffling of the bag stopped and Marinette listened to the digital tapping noise as Adrien unlocked his phone. There was a thump as the phone was thrown back into the bag and the crumpling noise began again.

“Shit, I’m kinda late. I have a photoshoot in like twenty minutes, I need to leave like ten minutes ago.”

Marinette peeked her head over the railing of the bed loft and watched as Adrien struggled to put a shirt on as fast as he could.

“Père is going to kill me if I’m late.”

Marinette was a little disappointed that the visit was coming to such an abrupt end, but if anything she understood exactly why Adrien was in a bit of a panic. His dad wasn’t exactly the most understanding person in the world, and keeping him happy was probably Adrien’s number one priority. A content father meant that he could continue to go to school, to go to parties and concerts and sneak over to Nino’s house with fewer repercussions than normal.

What kind of life it was, she didn’t really know. Gabriel Agreste made her nosey parents seem like absolute angels.

Adrien was fixing his belt around his waist when Marinette snapped out of her thoughts.

“I don’t even have time to do my makeup or anything, ugh.” He grumbled with a hint of frustration. He gave her a quick smile before slinging his bag over his shoulder and opening the hatch on the floor.

“So uh, I had a lot of fun and we should definitely do this again sometime?”

He was asking? Asking permission to come over again and potentially risk life and limb (and chin) to sleep in her bed again? Well he wasn’t exactly asking that, maybe she was getting a bit ahead of herself, but he wasn’t not asking to come back over again…

“Y-yes, we should definitely do this again sometime.”

He smiled. “Yeah, soon. I’ll text you, okay? Gotta go.”

And then he was gone, taking care to close the hatch on his way out. She could hear her mother stop him and ask him if he was staying for pancakes, telling him he’s a growing boy and he should really eat before he goes out. There was the familiar sound of Adrien’s voice politely declining even though he was in a huge rush that may or may not determine if he would ever return to public school at the end of the summer.

Marinette closed her eyes, tiredness catching up to her once again despite the eventful morning. She was so sure that yesterday had been an absolute disaster, but everything had turned out pretty okay in the end, maybe even better than she could have possibly imagined. She’d even confessed to Adrien how she felt about him! Maybe the stars and planets had aligned last night especially for her in some kind of strange roundabout way, providing her with just enough clumsiness and bad luck that it had come full circle and turned into good luck. She was Ladybug, after all. A little good luck here and there wasn’t unheard of.

She was startled out of her thoughts when her door slammed open and Adrien launched himself back up into her room.

“I forgot to do a thing!” He yelled, hair askew and face red, probably from running back up the apartment stairs.

“Hm?” But Marinette barely had time to process what exactly it was he could have forgotten before Adrien jumped up her loft stairs three at a time, threw himself across her bed and gave her the loudest, most obnoxious kiss on the cheek she’d ever received in her entire life.

Before she could even let her jaw drop in awe, confusion, surprise, whatever it was she was feeling right now, he’d catapulted back down the steps and through the hatch in a matter of seconds.

The incoherent Marinette noises made their swift return to her vocabulary, and she struggled to come up with anything at all that was an actual word in the French language.

She settled on remaining silent until she could plant her head face down in her pillow, which now smelled like Adrien’s associated scents of expensive cologne, mint, and a hint of leather. There was a ruffle as Marinette screamed into the pillow, all the while tiny red paws patting her head through a mess of dark hair. Her thoughts were wild, erratic and a little risque.

By the time she’d calmed down enough that her fists were no longer white and her face had a bit of colour back in it, she was finally starting to revel in the afterglow of sleeping next to a literal fashion celebrity.

That wasn’t why she had any interest in him of course, but the whole thing was so surreal. It was like a dream come true, a literal dream she’d dreamed a dozen and half times or more. Sure, when she dreamed they were wearing much less than they’d been wearing all night, but last night was a start she’d never once expected to actually have. Her wildest dreams had been optimistic, but still he’d seemed so far away. And now everything was changing so quickly, or at least it felt that way.

She was giddy and overwhelmed with the idea of him. That he might like to come over again and blow up her kitchen and burn cupcakes. That he might want to play games with her and notice his pictures on the walls again and sleep over in the warm summer nights. Her sheets, her pillows, even her bra smelled like him, it was like he was still there. He kissed her! He kissed her right on the cheek! He kissed her.

It was absolutely enough fuel to keep her on her high for another half hour or so, she suspected.

“Tikki, can you lock the door?”

The Kwami nodded and rolled her gigantic eyes before floating down from the loft and out of sight, the click of her lock confirming that she was safe and secure. No chance of either of her parents walking in. Tikki remained hidden.

She squeezed her legs together and held her tongue as she thought of Adrien. The warmth between her thighs as she grabbed her pillow, clutching it to her chest and inhaling, the heat of his hands on her bare skin, the feel of his naked chest beneath her fingers. Everything was still vivid in her mind, as if he was still there in the room with her.

She imagined him lying there beside her, feeling her growing heat between them as she rocked her hips forward just a little. His long and slender pianist’s fingers crawled their way up her back, hooking themselves under the straining strap of her bra, playing with the clasps and tickling her skin.

Her hand sunk down between her thighs. She had thirty minutes.

May as well make the most of it, she thought to herself as she flung her pyjama bottoms and her panties across the room.

The pancakes could wait.

\---

Early afternoon found Marinette walking down the sidewalk past the park under the sun’s intense heat. Not long after she’d taken care of business, Alix had called and asked if she wanted to join herself, Nino and Kim for some basketball in the court not too far from the school. They needed even teams, after all, and Alya wasn’t the kind of person to sweat herself to death to play sports of all things, even if Nino was the one asking her to do it. Ladybug herself could beg her on her own hands and knees and Alya would probably still refuse.

Luckily for her friends, Marinette’s physique meant that physical activity came naturally to her now, and even excited her a little bit. It was a stark contrast, the Marinette of the past who groaned every time she had to lift a bag of sugar, and the Marinette who became Ladybug, who could bench press weight equivalent to her Papa’s and bend iron crowbars in half. The suit helped of course, but she was definitely the first pick for just about anything ever when P.E class rolled around.

Today she was wearing tight fitting athletic shorts the same colour as her eyes and soft pink tank top, and her skin smelled of the sunscreen she’d applied liberally before leaving her apartment. Running shoes weren’t her favourite fashion statement ever, but they were necessary and at the very least they matched her shorts.

Marinette rounded the corner and shaded her eyes from the glare of the sun with her hand as she walked alongside the chainlink fence of the basketball court. Nino and Kim were dressed for the weather and playing keep away with an infuriated Alix Kubdel. Alix was a real spitfire, especially when it came to Kim being better than her at literally anything in the history of the universe. An age old rivalry since they’d all been in diapers, they’d said.

“Hey guys!” Marinette called out to them.

Alix stopped yelling obscenities at Kim and ran over to the gap in the fence as Marinette walked through it, a sly grin spreading slowly across her face.

“So, Marinette.” Alix began as she reached for a water bottle on the nearby bench.

“So. Marinette.” Nino and Kim both echoed at the same time as they walked up behind the tiny pink-haired firecracker.

“Me?”  
Alix flashed her teeth. “So did you bang your barbie yet? What did we miss?”

Marinette’s eyes widened a bit as she put her own water bottle on the bench.

“Did I what my who?”

Nino rolled his eyes and Kim snickered while he balanced a bright orange basketball on one finger.

“You know, tall blond and oblivious?” Alix gestured with her hand as she raised it high above her head. “Two and a half heads taller than me? Nino’s banned from his house?”

Marinette sighed and rubbed at an eye with her hand. “Are we really going to talk about this? Why now?”

Kim rested the basketball on top of Alix’s head and cocked his hip. “We saw him leave the bakery on our way over here. Why would he be at your house?”

“Maybe he was buying something from the bakery I live on top of?” Marinette huffed.

Nino clicked his tongue. “Uh-uh Marinette, Alya told me all about how Adrien went to your place last night. All of the juicy details.”

“Nino, there were no juicy details. Alya doesn’t have any details!”

“Not yet, anyway. You think she’s gonna let you get away with keeping all hush hush?”

Alix tapped her foot. “Everyone and their grandma knows you can barely even say two and half words to him. Did we miss something? Did you guys get it on and we never noticed?”

“We didn’t do anything! Marinette insisted.

Her face grew red as she unintentionally reminded herself that she’d been masturbating to ‘tall, blond and (definitely no longer) oblivious’ Adrien literally less than an hour ago. Minutes before that, she’d been sleeping next to him in her bed while his erection pressed at her leg, taunting her. Tempting her.

“Do you think- do you think that’s what they do when they leave class at the same time?” Kim interjected.

“We don’t-”

“Oh my god!” Alix shouted. “Do you guys have sex in the washrooms or something? Is that where you go? Is the stuttering all an act?”

Marinette turned red faster than she ever had in her entire life. “No! We don’t do that! We’ve never done that! Shut up!”

“Fess up Dupain-Cheng. Why was Agreste Jr at your place this morning?” Alix persisted.

Marinette clenched her fists. “We were hanging out like normal people. Playing games, eating junk food, whatever!”

Cuddling, removing articles of clothing, confessing, talking about the dozens of photos of Adrien’s face plastered all across her walls… normal people things. Very normal.

“And he totally stayed overnight.”

“Nino!”

“I know he did! We tight, I know where my boy is at all times. It’s like some sixth Adrien protection sense or something.”

“I hate all of you.”

“No you don’t Marinette. You love us.” Alix stated matter-of-factly as she inspected her nails.

She did, really. Perhaps in another universe there was a Marinette that suffered in absolute silence, no good natured friends to pick on her or call her seven times in ten minutes every time she so much as breathed in Adrien’s direction.

At the very least, picking on her about her love life forced her to talk it out with someone at some point. It was Alya who had inspired her to become better friends with the face of Gabriel Agreste’s brand in the first place.

Alix was a little more forward, but she meant well.

Basketball was both fun and funny when it involved Marinette and Alix in any capacity. Both of them suffered from a case of… well, being below average in the height department. What they lacked in centimetres, they made up for in flexible and sneaky savagery.

Alya had once insisted that Marinette was blessed with the gift of long and slender legs, but the blossoming fashionista had always felt a bit self concious of her torso-to-leg ratio. Hopefully Adrien was a leg guy.

Now that she’d picked up a job as the local superhero, Marinette was a lot more confident in the way she looked, how she moved and how her feet pounded the pavement relentlessly, how her hair blew in the wind and her bangs flew up as she ducked under Nino’s outstretched arm.

Insecurity had plagued her on and off throughout her years at school, partially because she never seemed to make friends that really stuck, but mostly because Chloé had made a game of tormenting her since they were children. There had never been a catalyst of any kind that she could recall, that was just the way it was, they way it had always been since they met.

Chloé would trip her on the playground, make fun of her clothes back when she’d first started piecing outfits together on the sewing machine, put gum in her hair and said rude things about her mother’s side of the family. Marinette had felt strong for not believing most of what she was told and her parents had done their best to support her, but Chloé was a relentless pest and it was still difficult to not feel at least a little bit hurt sometimes.

It was extremely challenging to wrap her brain around the fact that Adrien’s only friend for years had been Chloé, especially since the only similarities they seemed to share was wealth and a passion for high end fashion. Though he’d admitted he didn’t exactly love modelling, Adrien still enjoyed looking good when he was out in public. Not that he had to try very hard.

Alya was like some magical fairy godmother, metaphorical glitter swirling around her as she waved her invisible wand and bestowed in Marinette a determination she’d never known before. Without Alya to believe in her, to share her own confidence, there might not even be a Ladybug.

Just barely over a year ago Marinette had run to the girl’s washroom and hid when Chloé spilled her cold coffee down the front of a newly sewn dress, and this morning she’d woken up wrapped around one actual model Adrien Agreste. She could barely even believe it herself.

Marinette cringed as Kim slammed face first into the ground, Alix dancing around him with the bright orange ball in her right hand, her left glued to her forehead and making the approximate shape of an ‘L’.

Nino tried to reach over a head of pink hair, but it was too late and the ball had already left Alix’s hands and found a home in Marinette’s. With an unnecessary display of finesse, Marinette used Kim’s back as a springboard to launch herself up towards the hoop.

Alix hollered and cheered as Marinette dunked the ball with as much style as she could muster. Sometimes showing off was fun, especially if it was at the expense of people who were bigger and taller than she was. Marinette was jittery and excited, the high Alix claimed she felt when she absolutely smashed anyone who had more than a head over her was no exaggeration. Perhaps that was why she felt especially smart whenever she talked Chat Noir in circles.

The rest of the game passed by as expected, with the boys eating cement and the two petite savages claiming their spoils of war in the form of ice cream, paid for by the losers. It wasn’t until the four of them had sat down at an empty table outside the ice cream parlour that Marinette checked her phone. Twenty-two missed calls from Alya, along with several...dozen or so texts demanding to know the exact details of her day with Adrien.

Alya wanted to know absolutely everything, from the first word Adrien said when he walked into the bakery to the exact count and positioning of his skin cells that had connected with hers. It was a little bit exciting, now that she had something to talk about other than _he winked in my general direction!_

Knowing better than to start a conversation of the kind she was expecting while she was in the vicinity of literally anyone else, Marinette finished her ice cream and excused herself from the company of her friends. Nino chose to wink at her subtly, but Alix chose to make a circle with her fingers on one hand and stick the index finger of her other hand through the hole. She winked too, but it was scarier than Nino’s.

By the time she made it home the evening had cooled down at least a little bit, so not having a working fan wasn’t absolute torture at least. She still chose to shuck her shirt and shorts before lying on the cool hardwood floor below her loft bed and dialing Alya’s number. The second Alya answered, Marinette turned the phone upward and away from her ear as her best friend screamed loud enough that her parents probably heard it through closed doors.

“Marinette! Please!”

“Sorry I missed your calls, Alya.”

“You better be! I was up all night waiting for details, a text, a call, a cry for help, anything at all!”

“A cry for help?!”

“This is you we’re talking about, here. I have to make sure you don’t… set anything on fire or anything!”

Marinette cringed. “Well, we almost did, but-”

“You set something on fire?!? I was kidding!”

“We burned some cupcakes, that’s all. Does it make sense if I say that yesterday was the worst but also the best?”

Alya was probably rolling her eyes, Marinette suspected.

“Girl, I totally understand. Sometimes you have to take the bad with the good. I mean, usually with you it’s mostly the bad, but there’s a first time for everything.”

“Alyaaaaa.” Marinette groaned.

“I know I know, I’ll ease up. I’m just a little excited. My little girl is growing up!”

“Okay, mom, do you wanna hear about what happened or not?”

“Tell me everything.”

Recounting the events of yesterday made things sound much, much worse for some reason, especially over the phone. Exhaustion had clouded her vision, preventing her from turning into an embarrassed Marinette-shaped ball of goo in the face of everything that could go wrong going wrong. It hadn’t all seemed so bad at the time, but really Marinette was baffled that Adrien wanted to come back over at all, especially after she’d revealed her infatuation with him. Infatuation was a stronger word than she’d used, of course, but there was no point in lying to Alya about how she genuinely felt.

“And then he threw up in my toilet.”

“What? Are you serious?”

Marinette nodded despite the fact that Alya wouldn’t see it. “Yeah, it just kind of happened. It was probably the heat.”

“So what did you do?”

“I… made sure he was okay and helped him? I don’t know, did I do something wrong?”

Alya laughed on the other end. “No, it’s just so funny! Well I mean, not that he threw up, but of course something like that would happen to you. I swear your luck gets worse every day.”

“Why is it my bad luck? What if it was Adrien’s?”

“Pssh, that boy was born into good luck. He’s rich, smart, kind, blah blah blah, and he won the genetic lottery harder than anyone I’ve ever met in my entire life.”

Adrien suffering from bad luck did sound kind of preposterous.

“I know, Alya! He’s just so gorgeous. Sometimes I can’t even believe it.”

“Marinette, you got to watch an actual gorgeous celebrity throw up in your own toilet, in your own home. That has to be like, a one in a million thing. How many other people could say the same, do you think?”

“Probably nobody.”

At least she hoped so. She didn’t really know why, but thinking about someone else witnessing Adrien in compromising situations made her toes curl. The likelihood of another human being baring witness to Adrien upchucking his most recent meal was probably slim to none though, what were the chances? He spent most of his time alone anyway.

“So what happened next?” Alya piped up.

“Well, this is kinda the part I was most worried about. I mean, not worried I guess, but confused? I think I need some advice.”

Alya snorted. “What do you think I’m here for, girl?”

Marinette smiled to herself. “Of course. So uh, I kind of straight up told Adrien I like him.”

Dead silence.

Was that wrong? Was it bad? Too forward?

Alya’s deafening screech permeated the room like a bolt of lightening and Marinette had to hold back the urge to throw her phone as far away as possible.

“YOU DID? MARINETTE THAT’S AMAZING!”

“Haha, yeah…”

“What made you do it? Remember when you could barely admit to yourself that you fancied him? Remember when you hated him for the first seven hours you knew him?”

“Please don’t remind me.” Adrien’s first day of school had been interesting, to say the least.

“Okay okay, just tell me exactly what happened.”

“Well,” Marinette squeaked. “I sort of slept in and forgot to take down all the pictures. It was kind of obvious at that point, right?”

There was nothing but Alya’s laughter on the other end of the line. Marinette huffed, trying to sound annoyed without actually say anything.

“Sorry Marinette, it just seems so perfect! I know you didn’t do it on purpose, but if you did then I might be calling you a genius right now.”

“You used to tell me it was creepy like all the time!”

“And it is,” Alya confirmed. “So how did he react to that?”

“He didn’t really react, I guess? I don’t know, I was kind of dazed I think. Admitting something like that is big for me.”

“But he stayed over, right?”

“Yeah, he said we could share my bed, and then we didn’t have shirts on and-”

“Marinette.” Alya interrupted.

“Hm?”

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

It didn’t feel that way. But really, that nagging feeling she’d had since last night wasn’t exactly worry. Moments ago she thought maybe she’d been confused about the whole thing, but Alya seemed to think it was all pretty clean cut, as black and white as could be. So why did it feel like it wasn’t?

“To be honest Alya,” Marinette whispered, “I think everything is kind of backwards now.”

“What do you mean?”

“He seemed really into it I guess? Like, I guess if he didn’t like me or thought it was creepy then he wouldn’t have stayed over or kissed me.”

“He kissed you? You’re literally killing me, Marinette. How are you still on this earthly plane? Your soul is still in your body and I don’t understand.”

Marinette huffed. “On the cheek! He kissed me on the cheek on his way out, and said we should do ‘this’ again soon.”

“And you’re not completely over the moon about that because?” Alya droned.

“I only just came to terms with the idea that we could be friends and then yesterday happened and now I just don’t know! It’s like… it’s like he actually does like me! He wants to spend time with me, and all we’ve done since summer vacation started is toss ourselves into a lake and sleep and… ugh, I don’t know!”

Marinette rolled over onto her bare stomach as she listened to Alya giggle again.

“Marinette, what if he really does like you? I know I keep telling you he does, but I don’t think you really believe me. After everything you’ve told me, I can confirm, confirm, that Adrien Agreste is totally into Marinette Dupain-Cheng. This is real, girl!”

 _Oh god_ , Marinette thought. _He likes me._

Marinette sat up and leaned her back against the leg of her desk. She was having flashbacks, vibrant and loud flashbacks to every single day she’d seen Adrien since school had ended. The way he’d looked at her, how he’d talked to her. He’d been awkward and strange, and he’d reminded her a little bit of herself.

He reminded her of herself because he was nervous. He didn’t stutter like she did, he didn’t mix up his words or flail his arms about when he was trying to interact with her. Instead he made an ass of himself, in his own special way. He tried to impress her, to joke with her. And when everything, absolutely everything finally went to shit, he’d kissed her on the cheek and told her he wanted to come back.

“Holy fuck.” Marinette whispered.

“Holy fuck, indeed.” Alya whispered back.

\---

“Do you think I was a little forward, Nino?”

They boy’s image flickered a bit on the screen, pixels adjusting as he scratched his head beneath his cap.

Adrien was stretched out on his couch wearing as little as possible. The orange and purple glows of the early evening peppered across his skin through his window and reminded him of the light that dappled across Marinette’s as she’d sat under the tree at the park. Everything had reminded him of Marinette since he’d left her house that morning.

“You’re one of the most socially inept human beings I’ve ever met, Adrien.”

Adrien sighed. “So what did I do wrong? When you like someone, you’re supposed to tell them, right?”

Nino’s voice crackled through the headphones. “Yeah I guess, but most people usually have more tact than you do.”

“Can we insult me less and help me more?”

“Okay okay, well for starters people usually don’t invite themselves into the beds of whoever likes them immediately after they find out said person likes them?”

“You make it sound so much more awful than it was.”

“And, and, you kissed her.”

Adrien groaned. “Was I not supposed to? It just felt like a thing I should do.”

“Marinette is definitely something you should do,” Nino quipped. “But make sure you don’t kill her first, okay? She’s been head over heels for you for like, ever!”

“Yeah, I figured that out when I saw pictures of myself all over her walls.”

“Wait, all over? Like, actual photographs or your clothing ads?”

“A healthy mix of both. She even has that one boxer ad I did and then swore I’d never do again after all the fan mail I got.”

Nino made an odd sound. “That’s kinda...kinda creepy dude.”

“Creepy?” Adrien questioned. “I think it’s cute.”

“Of course you think it’s cute, you like her.”

Adrien hummed in agreement. He did. He liked Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Was it her personality? Her kindness? Humility? Truth be told he wasn’t entirely sure. He knew from experience that when he fell, he fell pretty hard, and he knew he also had a thing for eyes the colour of the sky and hair as black as night.

The poem he’d written on Valentine’s day was the corniest thing he’d ever come up with, and he’d written it to Ladybug, but now he was realizing that they, Ladybug and Marinette, seemed to share a lot of traits he was fond of.

“So,” Nino began. “What about that coworker you were crushing on before?”

Nino had impeccable timing for someone who definitely (probably) couldn’t read minds.

“It was unrealistic.”

It was, kind of. As long as Ladybug wanted to keep their identities a secret, it would always be unrealistic. If she wanted to keep it a secret forever, he’d happily oblige, and if that ever turned into reality then he knew he would have to move on at some point. It was easier to think about dismissing his love for his partner when she wasn’t around.

“You know what, Nino? They’re kind of similar, my coworker and Marinette. They’re both determined when they need to be, both of them are kinder than anyone has any business being. They even kinda look the same.”

Nino was probably rolling his eyes right now, a habit he’d adopted from his sort-of-girlfriend. “I told you before, you probably have a type. Yours is small cute Asian girls.”

Nino was kind of right about something, again. The similarities between Marinette and Ladybug were pretty strong, save for Marinette’s ever present clumsiness. Paired with his eternal curse of having the worst luck on the planet, they made quite the team. Ladybug had been clumsy the first day they’d met, and he fallen for her (literally) despite the fact that she still dropped her yo-yo on his head from time to time. It was probably intentional at this point.

“So where should I go from here, Nino?”

“Well if you wanna put the ‘D’ in ‘Dupain-Cheng’ then you probably gotta stop coming on so strong and give her some time to adjust.”

Adrien spluttered and nearly choked on his own spit as he violently sat up on his couch.

“Nino!”

“What? I’m just telling it like it is. You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about it.”

Of course he’d thought about it. He thought about it every time he went to bed and every time he forced himself into a cold shower.

“Of course I’ve thought about it, I just don’t want to scare her! You just told me she’s liked me for ages, and now I like her and I already slept in her bed. What do I do now? How do I go from zero to a hundred?”

Nino laughed. “Dude, just keep being you. I don’t know how, but it’s working. Marinette woke up in the same bed as the most handsome celebrity in Paris and she didn’t even throw herself off her roof!”

“Has she… has she done that before?”

“No, but she’s promised Alya she’d do it more than once.”

Adrien huffed. “So just keep being myself?”

“Keep being yourself and you’ll be doing the horizontal tango faster than Chloé can get someone Akumatized.”

“That’s a pretty high bar.”

“I believe in you, bro.”

It was hard to imagine that the first time anyone had told Adrien they believed in him was Nino telling him he believed he could get into Marinette’s pants, but he supposed his life was extraordinarily abnormal anyway.

By the time Adrien and Nino hung up their call, the sky was black and Plagg was demanding more cheese as if he hadn’t spent the last few hours eating four wheels of camembert. After satisfying the Kwami, Adrien sat down at his desk and pulled up the Ladyblog for his nightly browse. Most of the time there was nothing new, but it was still nice to see what Alya had to say about himself and his partner.

He wondered what Ladybug would think of Marinette. He should probably tell her, and maybe ease up on the flirting. The idea of not actively flirting with Ladybug was a foreign concept to him, he’d been doing it since day one and he absently wondered what else he could fill the empty conversation space with. Maybe she’d be willing to tell him more about herself, who knows.

There was a new article up about the undead Akuma from the day before, with a reused photograph of Ladybug and himself when they’d been on the news for an interview a few weeks ago. It was mostly accurate, which was impressive considering the number of witnesses out and about before four in the morning. Nobody had seen him throw up in the bush except Ladybug herself, at the very least.

After shutting off his computer, he threw off everything except his boxers and flopped face down on his bed, choosing to sleep without the sheets despite the air conditioning being on. He still felt much too hot after his conversation with Nino, and for the dozenth or so time it was because of a girl rather than the weather.

He considered his options carefully. Well, not too carefully. He was long over the embarrassment he used to associate with pleasuring himself over Ladybug, and switching to Marinette was easier than he thought. He felt a little bad, like he was cheating on his Lady or something ridiculous like that.

After telling Plagg to lock the door and go upstairs, he threw off his boxers and imagined himself back in Marinette’s room, under her covers and wrapped around her like he had been that very morning. Her warm hands on his skin, her breath on his neck and her legs tangled in his.

He would tell Ladybug about her tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did you bang your barbie yet


	8. Marinette Flirts with Disaster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends, bit of a delay getting this up because of work. But here it is! The chapter I'm working on now is one I've been dying to write so it might take a little extra time as well. Hopefully it will be worth the wait.
> 
> Enjoy.

Thursday found Chat Noir standing outside a flower shop under the shade of a bright pink awning nursing a red plastic cup filled with lemonade and ice. The glass of the shattered flower shop window crunched beneath his boots as he hunched over trying to stay out of the sun, and off of the sparkling shards that littered the ground. 

Sitting on the ground next to him was a disheveled and sad looking middle aged man with a broken nose and a slowly purpling bruise crawling up the right side of his face. For lack of a better restraint of any kind, the would-be robber was tied to a bus stop with a bike. That is, Chat Noir had borrowed the shop owner’s bike in a moment of frantic ‘genius’ and bent it around the hot metal pole of the bus stop, effectively trapping his prey in a cage made of rubber and lightweight steel. 

Waiting for the police to come around was typically the most boring part of foiling any nefarious plot, no matter how small. Today they were taking a bit longer than usual, but then again he’d been lucky he was out and about as Adrien in the immediate area after having ditched his bodyguard for the millionth time. 

Mr. Durand, the owner of the shop, flittered about gathering fallen bouquets and scooping up broken flower pots while his wife insisted Chat take more lemonade as soon as he emptied his cup. His fist kind of hurt from socking the thief in the jaw, but he was otherwise fine and busied himself by browsing the internet on his baton’s screen. 

He didn’t move an inch when Ladybug appeared upside down to his left, string wrapped around her wrists on one end and presumably tied to something on the roof at the other. She nonchalantly peered over his shoulder and watched him refresh the Ladyblog only twice before a new post about his most recent heroic actions popped up.

‘CHAT NOIR SAVES SOME FLOWERS, BENDS BIKE IN HALF OVER KNEE’

“Did you seriously…?” Ladybug mumbled.

Chat flicked his gaze up to meet hers before gesturing at his captive. 

She narrowed her eyes at him and frowned as best as she could while hanging upside down.

“I said I’d buy him a new one, what kind of cat do you take me for?”

Ladybug rolled her eyes. “I guess this is what I get for letting you pick up petty criminals.”

“Hey, at least it was just a bike and not like… a person!” He said accusingly as he raised his hands above his head.

Ladybug’s eyes darted back and forth. “Shhh, that was  _ one _ time, Chat!”

“You broke that guy’s kneecaps! I saw you do it, you can’t tell me you didn’t do it.”

“He stole money from a kid, a literal child. What else was I supposed to do?”

Chat laughed and poked her in the stomach, and her glare returned as she gently swung back and forth, still right side down. “I’m just teasing Bugaboo, it was actually super hot to watch you shatter human bones with your cute little foot.”

Ladybug’s palm met her face, but before she could say anything more a brigade of cop cars rolled up to the store front, sirens ablaze. One of the car doors opened and Chat recognized the officer as Sabrina’s father. He gave the portly chief of police a wave and received a nod in return. 

“Ready to go, Bug?”

“Wipe that dumb smirk off your stupid face and hold on,” she replied as she stuck out her arm. Chat gave his trademark two finger salute before grabbing Ladybug’s forearm, her fingers firmly gripping his own. With a quick tug, they were both lifted through the air and onto the shop’s roof, where they lingered for no more than a few seconds before vaulting over to the next block. 

Chat became lost in his thoughts as the warm wind whipped against his leather ears, mindlessly following after patterns of red and black, over alleys and across busy streets, through the park and beyond the Eiffel Tower. 

It had only been a few days since he’d seen Ladybug, and yet it still felt like an eternity after the time he’d spent with Marinette. The day after he’d slept over at Marinette’s - yesterday, in fact -  was the first twenty-four hours he’d spent without wondering about Ladybug’s civilian life since the day they’d met. He expected to feel guilt or something similar oddly enough. He’d avoided thinking about anything that might make him second guess his newfound affections for the girl that sat behind him in class, that might taint the time he spent with her with doubt and uncertainty. Now, at the cusp of forming some kind of relationship with Marinette, was no time to stay indecisive. 

Why should he feel guilty, anyway? I wasn’t like he and Ladybug were anything more than close friends, and she made sure that wasn’t going to change any time soon. It was easy to say that he could wait forever for her to change her mind or at least give him a chance, but what was the point in wasting an opportunity to give things a shot with Marinette? Though he had always been somewhat serious and painfully honest in his frequent confessions of love for his polka dotted partner, there had never been the reciprocation that he’d been so starved for, and there likely never would be. 

He wanted to respect his Lady’s feelings, her decisions, her everything, but it was hard to deny that he needed more from a relationship, whether it was with Ladybug or not. The last year he’d spent out in the real world interacting with people his own age had revealed to him the truth - he was suffering. It was a quiet, passive suffering, but it was suffering nonetheless. It sounded dramatic, all things considered, but being deprived of love and common kindnesses throughout a majority of his young life took its toll. Marinette, in her simple and frank confession of her attraction to him, was unknowingly offering him something he so desperately wanted, maybe even needed. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t want Ladybug anymore, in fact it was the opposite. He wanted Ladybug, but now he wanted Marinette as well. How could it be possible that his unwavering love for his partner was on par with his sudden and easily growing interest in his classmate? He had no idea, but he wanted to figure it out.

He snapped out of his reverie as Ladybug grabbed him by the armpits and swung him up to the top of the building he’d almost crashed into. He shook his head and scratched absently at an ear as he took in their surroundings, finally realizing where they were. He’d followed Ladybug well beyond their usual patrol borders, out past the Bois de Boulogne and into the forest of glittering skyscrapers.

“Something up, Kitten? You almost put yourself through a window.”

She looked concerned, as she usually was when he was having an off day.

He shook his head. “I’m fine, just lost in thought, I guess. Nothing bad, promise.”

Ladybug tutted. “Whatever you say. You can tell me anything, you know that right? I mean, just nothing about-”

“The other me, I know. Don’t worry yourself over me, Bugaboo. Where are we off to?”

Ladybug looked around, eyeing the glimmering towers with their windows that mirrored the endless blue of the sky. The sun burned high above them, but Chat Noir wasn’t even breaking a sweat beneath his leather costume. A finger wrapped in red pointed at the tallest tower to their right, and Chat leapt up to follow after the yo-yo without a second thought. He could hear the noise of the traffic below progressively dimming as he climbed higher and higher on the heels of Ladybug.

She didn’t stop until they hit the white concrete of the roof on the very top floor, where she decided to sit on the edge and dangle her legs out in the open sky, unphased by the thirty odd storeys that separated her from the ground. He watched her with interest, head cocked to the left with curiosity. Her posture was relaxed, her breathing gentle and her hair fluttered in the warm breeze. She was happy about something.

Arms behind his back, he slunk up behind her and put his chin on her shoulder, nose twitching as her scent filled his nostrils. She absently reached behind her to tangle her hand in his hair and scratch lightly behind his magical feline ears. 

The effect was instantaneous and Chat felt overwhelmed as his eyes drooped closed. The clear air high above the bustling streets, the heat of the day on his back and Ladybug’s hand behind his ear was enough to make him want to curl up in the moment forever and do nothing else for the rest of eternity. 

It took a moment of fighting against himself to remember that he had something important to talk to her about.

His nose nuzzled into the skin behind her ear. “You seem happy today, my Lady.”

She patted his head. “I am, Kitty.”

He lifted his head from her shoulder and moved to perch on the roof’s ledge on all fours.

“Can I ask why this lovely bug is so happy today?”

When Ladybug beamed at him, eyes glowing with unbound joy and a happiness he rarely saw from her, he knew he was absolutely fucked. He’d fucked himself over one hundred and fifty percent. 

The sun reflecting on her suit, highlighting her mask and her cute pink lips, the loose strands of midnight hair wafting around her smiling face, the way she kicked her dainty little feet back and forth. Her small fingers holding tightly to the ledge she was sat on, the endless sea of the sky reflected in her eyes, the infinite horizon behind her, spotless and free of clouds and framing her perfectly in the warmth of the daylight. 

She was radiant.

“Chat? Are you even listening?”

“Huh, wha?”

Ladybug squinted. “Did you hear what I said?”

Chat shook his head. “Sorry, Bugaboo. Lost in thought for a moment. Care to repeat?”

Ladybug rolled her eyes. “I said there’s a boy, Chat. A boy I really like, who likes me, and I think we’re… we’re something. I don’t know what but I think it’s going to be good.”

So that was why she was so happy today, so carefree. Someone had swept her off her feet, someone she’d been interested in already. He felt bad that he had no idea she was  _ seriously  _ interested in anyone in the first place. Talking about interest in someone with him was very different than actively…  _ engaging _ in anything with anyone was.

Someone, who was not him, was making his Lady smile the way he’d dreamed of doing since she’d introduced herself to him. It felt… bad.

He repressed a frown and instead chose to sit down with a smile, crossing his ankle over his knee. He put one clawed hand in his lap and leaned against the other. “Someone has stolen your heart from me, my darling? Dare I ask who it is that makes you smile so?”

Ladybug stood up then, balancing with ease on the ledge Chat was sat on. She spread out her arms playfully and watched her feet as she started to walk along the thin strip of concrete. 

“You can ask, Kitty, but you know I can’t tell.”

He chuckled. “I guess you’re right. What are the chances that I know him though, there must be millions of handsome young men in Paris.”

“I bet there are, but none like him. He always looks so beautiful, I don’t know how he does it. I can’t believe he’d ever have any interest in my boring other self. I can still hardly believe it’s happening.”

Chat poked her leg. “I’m sure your other self is anything but boring. If you’re amazing enough to be Ladybug, then well… you must be something special when you’re not in the spots too.”

Ladybug stopped walking and met his slitted eyes with her own.

“It’s kind of you to say Chat, as always, but I’m not going to stop feeling at least a little bit inadequate about myself sometimes. I think that comes with the territory when you have to hide who you are while you kick bad guy ass.”

“You say that as if you think I’m going to stop complimenting you.”

“Well, it might be a good idea to let up a little bit, considering… this boy I’m seeing.”

He nodded. She was right. This was the whole reason he’d wanted to talk to her today, anyway. He just didn’t expect that she might beat him to the punch. Ladybug was happy, more than happy, and that was all that truly mattered. It was almost a relief to know that the nights he’d spent convincing himself that Ladybug ever feeling for him what he did for her was unlikely hadn’t gone to waste. She probably had tons of friends in her other life, of course she would find someone. 

He felt guilt for the brief moment of jealousy he endured, not towards the mysterious boy she was talking about, but because he was still struggling with his own friendships. It couldn’t be helped though, that was the way his life was, and the way it would be until he could find it in his heart to abandon his only remaining family. 

Chat took Ladybugs dangling hand in his own and lifted it to his lips.  _ One more time,  _ he thought as he kissed the top of her hand.

“You’re right, my Lady. In fact, I have something to tell you as well. It seems we’ve both been bitten by different lovebugs recently.”

“Oh?”

“Indeed.”

He leapt up to his feet in one motion, standing beside his partner with her hand still clasped in his.

“I’ve met a girl. Well I guess, I mean I already knew her, but I found out she likes me.”

Ladybug squeezed his hand. “That’s great, Chat! You know, I was still so worried about telling you about… well, you know. It doesn’t bother you, right?”

“No no, of course not. I’m happy that you’re happy, it’s all that matters to me.”

“Your girlfriend might not appreciate you saying that, you know,” Ladybug smirked.

“Your boyfriend might not appreciate that you run around at night with a hot guy dressed in leather,” Chat quipped.

“We run around in the day, too.”

“That we do.”

There was a comfortable silence as Ladybug took a deep breath. 

She bumped her shoulder into his playfully. “So what’s she like?”

Chat let go of her hand and rested his elbow on his partner’s shoulder. 

“She’s cute, funny, kind, determined, and she can kick my ass at video games. My fragile masculinity cowers in her wake.”

“Sounds hot. Has she ever ripped a beating human heart in half?”

Chat snorted. “Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised, she reminds me of you sometimes.”

“If she reminds you of the superhero me then I’m not surprised you’re interested in her. I’m not really like this all the time, you know.”

“Would you believe me if I told you that civilian me is a walking disaster?”

“Absolutely.”

“Your confidence in me is astounding, my Lady.”

She giggled until she snorted and then sat down, dragging him with her. They resumed dangling their legs over the edge of the building with similar smiles plastered across their faces.

Chat huffed. “I’m going to miss this. Flirting with someone like you is just… I don’t know, it’s daring. Exciting. Trading one liners with you is one of my favourite things ever.”

“Mhmm,” Ladybug hummed. “I have to admit, I think I’ll miss it too. Joking around with you, without worrying what you’ll think of me is nice. The real me, I mean.”

“I could never think poorly of you.”

“You called me a savage once, that time that we had to tie that guy to the top of the Eiffel tower.” Ladybug muttered.

“And you  _ are _ a savage, the best kind. Remember when you tied  _ me _ to the top of the Eiffel? And upside down, no less.”

Ladybug squeaked. “I thought you were possessed! I had to take precautions.”

Chat laughed. “Relax, Bug, it was pretty funny all things considered. And oddly arousing.”

“Being tied to famous landmarks arouses you?”

“Being tied up by Ladybug arouses me,” he replied, unabashed in his admission. 

His partner covered her face and he snickered. 

“Noooooo stoooop!” she grumbled as she shoved her hands into his face. All he did was grin and happily slap her hands away until they were sloppily play fighting. 

“Bad kitty!” She yelled as she pinched his fake ear. 

He pawed at her hand. “I’m  _ your _ bad kitty, though.”

She shook her head. “No, now you have a girl. You’ve got someone else to think about.”

Marinette.

Why did he have to make everything so complicated? Kicking his Ladybug habit was going to be a lot harder than he thought. Even after they’d admitted to each other that they had other romantic interests, it was only seconds later that they’d fallen into their usual state of being, where he made Ladybug blush six ways to Sunday and she threatened to have him declawed. 

The flirting needed to stop. The blushing needed to stop. The dirty jokes… those probably needed to stop too. 

But he didn’t want to. 

He wanted to be with Marinette, to be near her and go to her house and take her out to walk by the Seine. The very things he had imagined himself doing with a faceless Ladybug time and time again. Would it even be possible to let her go completely? It would be unfair to bring his lingering emotional baggage into a relationship with Marinette.

“You know I love you, right?” Ladybug said.

His breath hitched. No. No no no no no.  _ Don’t say that _ .

“We’re partners, Chat, and we always will be. That won’t ever change.”

Yes, of course that’s what she meant. She loved her partner. They were best friends, in this other life they lived.

“We’re like yin and yang,” she continued. “Like, literally. This is Miraculous 101 here. We’ll always be together, so you don’t have to worry. We just have other people to think about now.”

He nodded. “Yeah. We do.”

How long they sat there together at the top of the skyscraper, Chat didn’t know. Their dynamic was going to change forever after today, and he still wasn’t sure if he was ready. He thought he had it figured out, but he was just as lost as he was before he started spending time with Marinette. 

Maybe in the future, he and Marinette would fall in love and have three kids and a house with a white picket fence. Maybe they would break up and he would find someone else, someone he hadn’t met yet. Ladybug would hopefully still be there in his life, but what role would she play? In his teenage fantasies, he had imagined walking her down the aisle in a church despite not even knowing who she truly was. Leave it to him to get lost in sappy improbable scenarios when he was supposed to be pushing those daydreams out of his head forever. 

Maybe he should just shove those thoughts under the rug, too. 

When the sun began to set, they finally stood. Ladybug nodded and he reciprocated before following her as she leapt into a magnificent freefall. He tried not to look at her as he fell across from her, as he knew from experience that he wouldn’t be able to look away today. The wind whipped at his ears and pulled at his heart.

The familiar sound of a yo-yo whizzing through the air was quickly followed by Ladybug’s grasp on his arm as she swung them away from the downtown core and back in the direction of the Eiffel. Neither of them spoke as they raced each other through housing complexes and over the treetops, and they didn’t look at each other until they came to rest on top of Le Grand Paris.

Chat breathed a sigh of relief when Chloé was nowhere to be found. He would be seeing her not long from now, and he wanted to minimize time spent with her as much as possible for time being. 

Ladybug poked him in the cheek. 

“Time to go, Kitty. I have things to do, people to see.”

Chat folded his arms respectfully behind his back. “I’m sure you do, Ladybug.”

She smiled. It crushed him. She kissed his cheek, right where she’d poked him. It destroyed him.

He wanted to grab her, shove her against the wall next to him and kiss her, touch her- do anything with her. Why he felt the need so strongly, so suddenly, he had no idea. His heart ached, longed, rattled its chains and cried out for her, for his Lady. 

He wouldn’t have her though.

So he smiled and waved as she leapt away, and he returned home to get ready for movie night with Chloé. 

 

\---

“I’ll get them to send up some popcorn and lemon water. Did you want anything specific?”

Adrien waved his hand at Chloé. “Nah. I’m good. Just popcorn is fine.”

She nodded before picking up her phone and tapping away her demands.

True to his word, Adrien had agreed to spend some time with Chloé, one on one. While she had been adamant that they meet up earlier in the day to lounge around her pool and tan themselves, Adrien had chosen to lie about a last minute piano session. Lies were getting easier to tell day by day, and Chloé had whined and told him it was unfair that he had to spend so much time on his extracurriculars after telling him she would wait up so they could watch a movie together.

Being friends with Chloé after witnessing her in action at school was stressful. 

They’d been friends for as long as he could remember, naturally brought together by representing the top one percent of financially secure residents of Paris. Old rich people did not typically have many children, and when they did they were often shipped off to America to study or go drinking in Hollywood. Chloé had wanted to go too, once upon a time, but after her mother died, her father prefered to keep her close and told her she would have a much better time staying in Paris while he was mayor. Chloé had been too young to even remember her mother when it happened though, a luxury Adrien wished he’d had after his own mother mysteriously vanished.

He remembered her telling him that everyone liked her and wanted to spend time with her, that she had so many friends to talk to every day and boys would flirt with her and buy her things she didn’t need. She always said she had to be careful, the boys that were interested in her only wanted her money, and Adrien would have to be careful about that too if his father ever let him out of the house.

If anything, her stories had made him yearn even more for the freedom of actually going to school. He used to beg his father and ask Chloé to help convince him, but she always told him it wasn’t worth it. 

After finally finding his freedom by rebellion (he couldn’t believe that running away from home to go to school could be considered a rebellion by any standard) he found that real people school was really everything he hoped for and more. 

Day one had been rough though. Learning about how Chloé acted when they weren’t alone together… that was something he was both thankful and angry for. Angry because Chloé had mostly lied to him, but glad that he’d met new people because of it. 

For the first few hours he knew Marinette, she’d hated him. He couldn’t blame her though, she thought he was in league with Chloé. Chloé, who he now knew was making it her life’s goal to humiliate and ridicule Marinette as often as she possibly could. It baffled him that Chloé could be so disrespectful to someone so sincere. She wasn’t the same Chloé he remembered growing up with, but every time he tried to find out why she turned out the way she did, she would shut him out.

At least Marinette was tolerant of his lingering friendship with the girl who hated her. It was more than he could ever ask for, and more than Alya and Nino could stand. 

The truth was that he really had no interest in hanging out with Chloé anymore, especially when he had an entire class full of friends to invite him out and sneak into his room and talk to online. She wasn’t his only link to the outside world now. His goal of the evening was to attempt to resolve the differences between Chloé and Marinette before his relationship with the latter became as serious as he was thinking it would. He would probably have an easier time ripping his own teeth out, but he wouldn’t be Adrien Agreste if he didn’t try one last time to salvage whatever scraps of the old Chloé he had left.

“Everything should be up in a minute. What do you want to watch?” Chloé said from behind her phone.

Adrien shrugged. “Whatever you want. Listen, can we talk first?”

“What about?”

“Stuff and things. Things and stuff.”

Chloé huffed. “Are you sure those ‘things and stuff’ can’t wait until later? I’ve been waiting for weeks to spend time with you. What have you been doing without me that’s so important?”

Adrien leaned back in the plush chairs of Chloé’s… well, Chloé’s living room. He already ran out of things to do in his cavernous prison of a room, he couldn’t imagine why Chloé needed so much space. Her room was pink, like Marinette’s, but much more sterile and unwelcoming. He missed Marinette’s room.

“I’ve been hanging out with Nino and Alya and Marinette.”

Chloé visibly cringed. “Like, all the time? Why them and not me?”

Leave it to Chloé to make it about herself in record time.

Adrien sighed and rested his chin in his hand. “Because it’s fun to hang out with them and I can do what I want? You’ve had me for years, it shouldn’t matter that much.”

“But it’s fun to hang out with me, too. You can’t tell me you never enjoyed our vacations, Adri-kins.”

“Of course I enjoyed them, those trips were some of the only times I spent away from my father before last year. The shopping trips, too. Nobody can shop like you can.”

She smiled. “Of course not, I’m the best at what I do. Mani-pedis, makeovers, spending money, all that stuff. We’ve always had fun doing it together, I don’t see why you feel like you need to make time for  _ them. _ ”

Adrien crossed his legs and began to twiddle his thumbs. 

Chloé narrowed her gaze. “You’re nervous, you only do that thumb thing when you’re nervous. Did something happen? Did one of them say something rude to you? Ask you for money? Was it Marinette?”

“No, no!” Adrien shouted, holding his hands up. “Nothing like that. I mean, it’s about Marinette, I guess. Kind of.”

Chloé stood up, fists clenched and teeth gnashing. “What did she do? If she did anything you don’t like you can just -”

“Sit down, Chloé. I’m trying to be serious.”

Adrien’s voice was stern, but he was sure she could still hear the anxiety in it. She knew him too well, or at least she used to.

Chloé listened, but not before hesitating and crossing her arms. She was concerned for him, at least. Not for the right reasons, but it was nice that she gave even the tiniest of shits about him when he was having his own problems.

Adrien took a deep breath through his nose. “I’d really appreciate it if you let me say everything I have to say, before you do anything. This is… important to me Chloé, and it would be nice to have your support.”

She nodded, thankfully complying with his request for her to hold her tongue. 

“So like I said, I’ve been spending a lot of time with Nino, Alya, and Marinette lately. But mostly Marinette. I’ve been thinking about Marinette a lot, and I think… I think we’re really good friends now. I know you guys don’t really see eye to eye, but she’s at least understanding of my friendship with you, so it would be really nice if you could try to ease up on… on whatever it is you think you’re doing to her.”

Chloé waved her hand dismissively at him. “I don’t see why I should. Marinette has to deal with me because we’re a package deal, you and me, she doesn’t have a choice. I can choose not to be her friend if I want to.”

Adrien rolled his eyes, frustrated that once again, she’d changed her mind about listening to him.

“I’m not asking you to be friends with her, Clo. You don’t have to talk to her or look at her or do anything with her. In fact, maybe just don’t talk to her at all. I think that would solve a lot of your problems.”

“Where’s the fun in that? I don’t have any problems, Marinette has problems. What’s the point of this conversation supposed to be anyway? We could be watching a movie and reading magazines instead of talking about people I don’t like.”

Adrien struggled to keep his composure. After his exchange with Ladybug and the emotional turmoil that came with it, he really wasn’t in the mood to deal with another one of Chloé’s selfish fits. Perhaps he shouldn’t have scheduled both encounters on the same day.

Chloé daintily crossed her heels. “Just get to the point so we can move on, please.”

Adrien sighed and scooted forward in his seat, resting his elbows on his legs and propping his head up. In a perfect world, he’d say what he was about to say, Chloé would understand, and they’d bury themselves in popcorn and unhealthy beverages for the rest of the evening. It was more likely that everything was about to go straight to hell though, better to get it out of the way, as she’d ask him to. Just like ripping off a band-aid. 

“I’m going to ask Marinette to go out with me, and she’s going to say yes.”

He expected her to scream, to pound her fists on the arms of her chair and tell him that Marinette was not the right girl for him, that only she was worthy of his affections and they were meant to be together. He expected her to tell him to leave and never come back, as she’d done when Sabrina had last pissed her off, he expected her to pretend he was invisible, to gather up his bag and his shoes and throw them off her balcony.

What he got was silence. An aching silence, and Chloé’s wide eyes looking directly into his soul and beyond.

Her fingers clenched the seat. “How do you know she’s going to say yes?”

“I just told you, we’ve been spending a lot of time together lately. I already know she likes me. Do you think she’s going to say no?”

Chloé said nothing, instead choosing to look at her hands forlornly. “No. She’d never say no to you.”

Adrien nodded.

Her foot began tapping the floor faster than he could see it, her fingers clenched and unclenched and she picked at her nail polish. It was like watching a ticking time bomb, and once again, he expected her to burst at the seams. 

Instead, she asked, “Are you s-serious about this? Like really?”

“Very serious, Chloé. I like her a lot. I’m sure you understand why I’m asking you to try to be civil.”

At least, he hoped she did. 

As was typical, her face was plastered with emotion of the negative variety, so it was difficult to tell if he was really getting through to her or not. Her feelings ranged from snide to enraged with little room in between the two for anything else. Nothing left of the childhood Chloé he still struggled to envision her as.

“I don’t like it. I don’t like Marinette and I don’t think I ever will. You can do what you want though, I don’t care. It doesn’t matter to me if we never hang out anymore.”

_ So that’s what this is about,  _ Adrien thought to himself.

“Clo, you of all people should know that I’d never abandon you. This doesn’t mean I’m gonna cut you out of my life or anything.”

“How do I know you won’t?”

“Because you know me, you’ve known me longer than anyone I’m not related to. We can still go shopping and hang out in the pool. I just want you to try to deal with whatever your issue is with Marinette without cutting her pigtails off or something.”

Chloé stood suddenly and walked towards her balcony, making sure to break her eye contact with Adrien. He watched her, knowing what was coming and feeling more sorry for her than anything else. At least he’d tried. 

“I think you should go,” She told him.

He gathered his things and put on his shoes in an awkward silence, wondering if he’d set foot in Chloé’s room ever again. Chloé was troubled, she was lonely. Maybe she would come around eventually, but for now she was set in her ways and Adrien was likely as good as dead to her. 

Maybe it was for the best.

He stopped in her doorway.

“Hey Chloé… if you ever change your mind, I’m sure Marinette would give you a chance. At friendship, I mean. She doesn’t hate you, not like how you hate her. Just think about it, I guess.”

She said nothing and continued to stare out her balcony window. 

Adrien left.

 

\---

 

Sometimes Plagg was a wealth of knowledge and wisdom fueled by over 5000 years of experience training young kittens across dozens of countries and all walks of life. Adrien appreciated what he had to say as frequently as he could whenever he needed cold, hard advice. 

Plagg was frank, to the point, and left no room for nonsense as he spewed forth one logical conclusion after another. The trivial pursuits of humans were nothing compared to those of the living embodiment of destruction, and he cared even less about Adrien’s species fumbling around each other in awkward attempts to reveal (or not reveal?) their innermost feelings.

Most of the time, Adrien appreciated Plagg. Sometimes he thought about flushing the kwami down the toilet. 

“Is it even possible for you to drown?” Adrien asked from the couch.

“No, I’m immortal.”

“So what would you do if I  _ did _ send you off to meet that goldfish I flushed like three years ago?”

Plagg hummed and tapped his tiny chin. “I dunno, probably back up the sewers directly into every available faucet and toilet in your house. How many bathrooms do you have again?”

Adrien scratched at the hair behind his ear. “At least seven. Maybe eight.”

“I want to be Ladybug’s kwami instead.”

“Can you not talk about Ladybug for like, ten minutes?”

Plagg snickered. “Oh, how the tables have turned!”

“Shut up, Plagg.”

The trip home from Chloé’s had been ten minutes of Plagg laughing directly into his ear and picking on him for very clearly not being over Ladybug, and also failing to even tell her about Marinette. Ladybug even  _ knew _ Marinette, maybe she’d be happy for him or something. Instead of clarifying who exactly he was going to be involved with (Adrien’s chosen method of closure), he’d instead been consumed with a renewed and overwhelming longing accompanied by a tinge of jealousy towards the mysterious man who had wooed his Lady.

Someone out there had succeeded where he’d failed over and over again. There was a man somewhere in Paris right at this very moment who was amazing and special and probably even more beautiful than he was who had captured the heart of the most incredible, courageous, generous girl in the world. 

Adrien wanted to be mad at this stranger he’d never met, but he couldn’t bring himself to even consider that Ladybug might choose to date someone unworthy of her affections. There was no way she would just... settle for some prissy snob or whatever. The doofus probably didn't even realize exactly who it was he was seeing if Ladybug remained true to her pledge to never, ever reveal her identity to anyone. Secret identities are dangerous, after all.

He had Marinette, anyway. She was everything Ladybug was and more, probably. More in the sense that she was actually interested in him despite his terrible luck and inability to act even remotely smooth at all. He made a fool of himself again and again, but she'd never even mentioned it.

Sure, she was known for being a bit clumsy herself from time to time, but that wasn't anything he was concerned with. She could trip over herself all she wanted and he would get down on his knees and help her pick up the contents of her pencil case every single day for the rest of his life if he had to.

He had to get over Ladybug if he was going to get serious with Marinette. He  _ had _ to.

“So if you're still in love with Ladybug and you go out with Marinette, does that constitute as emotional cheating?” Plagg asked from the air.

“Does shaving all your fur off constitute as animal abuse?” Adrien quipped.

Plagg cringed and pulled at his whiskers. “You would never.”

Adrien shrugged. “I've always thought sphinxes were cute.”

“The have toes like shriveled raisins!”

“You  _ are _ a shriveled raisin.”

“You're grounded!”

Adrien flopped onto his stomach. “You can't ground me, you're just a tiny cat.”

Plagg nodded. “You're right. But seriously kid, what are you doing? You gonna ignore Marinette?”

“No, of course not.” Adrien replied. “I'd never do that. I'm going to do what I said I would do. I guess I just have to hope for the best, it's not like I can control who I like or whatever.”

“No, you dingus. Marinette sent you a text like two hours ago and you haven't even looked at your phone!”

Adrien launched himself off the couch and slammed his forehead on the coffee table.

“Shit, goddamn it!”

“Slow down there, Romeo. You need to be alive to get some action,” Plagg said as he handed Adrien his phone.

“How did I forget to check my texts! What if she really thinks I'm ignoring her? What if she hates me forever now?” Adrien cried as he entered his passcode.

Plagg rolled his slitted eyes. “You're gonna have a heart attack, kid. Why couldn't I get matched with a normal kitten instead of whatever you are?”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Adrien prodded as he scrolled to his messages.

"What's Marinette say?” Plagg asked, ignoring Adrien's question with trained precision.

“I'm reading, shut up.”

 

**[Mari]**

 

_ “hey adrien, are you busy? i just have a question” _

 

Well, he had been busy at the time. Busy arguing with Chloé about her, oddly enough. He wanted to reply even though he didn't know what he wanted to say. Would she still be awake? It was coming up on midnight and he didn't want to disturb her. Alya had mentioned from time to time that Marinette liked to work in the late hours though, maybe she was still up.

He imagined her sitting at her desk in front of her sewing machine, pins clamped in between her shiny pink lips and determination in her eyes. Beside her on the desk laid her phone, forgone for a pair of sharp tailor's scissors and spools of embroidery thread. She would probably prefer to be comfortable while at work in the heat, so maybe she was wearing comfy shorts and a tank top.

Maybe even less than that. She slept in her bra sometimes, that was probably an even better alternative if she was hard at work, sweating tirelessly over her sewing machine. The back of her neck was damp and she had her hair up in a messy bun, a hairstyle he'd seen in old class photos in the hallways at school.

The sewing machine hummed as she quickly and carefully ran hot pink fabric under the foot. What she was making didn't matter, it was her arm that caught his attention as it rose from the fabric to wipe beads of sweat from her forehead. She fanned herself and patted at her chest where a runaway droplet was inching under the fabric of her bra. He watched it disappear and he was filled with a sudden want, a want to come up behind her and lift the fabric away from her, to turn her around in her chair and whisk away the sweat with his own hands.

He wanted to untie the ribbon in her silky hair so it could fall loose around her shoulders, so he could run his fingers through it again and brush his thumb against her neck. He wanted to run his hands up her bare thighs and over her slender hips, to rest them on the muscles he knew she kept hidden under her shirt every single day when she sat behind him in class. He wanted to caress her sides and tickle her cheeks with his breath, to wrap his arms around her and grab at the clasp of her bra.

If he'd learned anything from his modelling career, it was that bras were uncomfortable and needed to be removed.

With prowess that he could only imagine to have, he gently pulled the two ends apart and the pink lace became loose around her arms. He could feel her breath too, hot and close, oh so close to his lips and definitely too far away for his liking. Before he could move to capture her lips with his own, she tugged softly at her bra until it fell away, forgotten and unwanted.

Before all else he was a gentleman, but in his fantasies he subconsciously knew he didn't have to be as considerate as usual, and so he looked without shame at her naked chest and ogled to his heart's content. Her breasts were small, petite and perfect just like she was. Round and soft, with pink perky nipples that stood out against her pale skin.

His hands began moving from her back toward her front, and his forearms barely brushed the sides of her chest. His hands moved closer and closer, and she whimpered quietly in his ear, urging him to go faster, to touch her. His hands-

"Hey numbnuts, you gonna reply or what?”

“Huh? Wha?”

“Adrien!” Plagg scolded as he watched the boy yank a pillow off the couch and shove it in his lap with no grace whatsoever.

Adrien's face was reddening fast as he realized he'd been staring blindly into space for the last few minutes as he invented an erotic scenario starring Marinette in his head, stemming from nothing more than a text asking if he was busy.

'Do you want to get busy with me?' was probably not an appropriate reply to her question, but it crossed his mind anyway. It was something he would probably blurt out directly to her face if he were wearing his leather duds, though.

Plagg grumbled and rubbed his cheeks. “Remember when you only used to zone out whenever Ladybug said two words to you? Now it happens twice as often and it's horrible.”

“Shut  _ up _ , Plagg!”

He really should reply to her or something, but not with anything... strange. Well, Marinette was pretty strange, but probably not in the way he was thinking. She probably didn't imagine him doing things to her or touching her the way he thought of her. She was still a little bit shy around him, and while he was shy too, he had no verbal restraint when it came to blabbing out what he was feeling in the moment.

With text messages, he had time to consider, to formulate a response that didn't involve thinking with his dick and following up with some terrible pun about being tied up. Not literally tied up of course, he definitely couldn't imagine Marinette being into anything like  _ that _ . Not that he was. Well, maybe just a little. It was all Ladybug's fault!

 

**[Adrien]**

 

_ “hey, mari. sorry, i was busy earlier. i can talk now if you're still awake?” _

 

There. A normal, everyday person average joe response.  _ Good job, _ He thought to himself.  _ You did it. _

He nearly dropped his phone as the screen lit up and it vibrated in his hand.

 

**[Mari]**

 

_ “i'm still up!!! i was just wondering, because i'm free tomorrow before everyone gets together, did you want to come over for breakfast? its ok if you're busy i understand” _

 

Adrien couldn't move his fingers fast enough. He had to reply now, he had to reply ten minutes ago.  _ Yes yes yes yes. _

 

**[Adrien]**

 

_ “of course, yes, absolutely. i love breakfast. when should i come over?” _

 

**[Mari]**

 

_ “is 8am too early?” _

 

**[Adrien]**

 

_ “no, i'll be there for sure” _

 

**[Mari]**

 

_ “great! see you tomorrow morning then” _

 

**[Adrien]**

 

_ “can't wait” _

 

Breakfast at a bakery? With Marinette? Anyone would be crazy to refuse, and it would be the perfect time to ask Marinette out on a real, genuine date. Wait, what if this was a date? What if she just asked him out, beat him to the punch just like Ladybug had? It would be too awkward to ask, he decided. It is what it is.

“Have you ever considered that Ladybug might be a dude?”

“What the fuck?” Adrien asked from the floor in front of his couch.

Plagg zipped over the back of the couch and came to lounge on the TV remote. He was picking bits of cheese out from between his teeth in the most unflattering of ways, spitting the crumbling bits from his mouth onto the glass table.

“I said, have you ever considered that Ladybug might be a dude?”

Adrien wrinkled his nose. “I don't follow.”

“Quick Miraculous history lesson,” Plagg said as he patted his stomach. “The Miraculous artifacts don't magically bless you with some other side of you, some long lost personality that you never knew you had. That's why you're still a nerd even when you're Chat Noir.”

“Thank you.”

“Don't mention it. Anway, what they actually do is kind of... magnify who you are. They take everything about you that you are, everything that is you, and powers them up. Cranks everything to 11 and throws you out into the void to fight evil until you die.

“You're still the same person you are when your Miraculous aren't active, but with nothing to hold you back you can always be at your best. They don't give you anything you don't already have, or make you into someone you aren't. They take what you  _ are _ and help you find your own way to greatness.”

Adrien nodded. “That makes sense. I don't really feel any different when I'm Chat, but I feel better. I don't know about what, just in general.”

Plagg burped. “Yep, just you but stronger.”

“Have you been on the internet again?”

“No! Maybe.”

Adrien's eyes widened. “Don't look at my bookmarks.”

“Why not? Now I'm going to do it.” Plagg grinned.

“No, bad kitty! Forget I even mentioned it! Aren't you in the middle of a life lesson or something?”

The kwami waved his tiny arms. “ _ Relax _ , kid. I won't look at your weird kinky websites.”

“Jesus christ,” Adrien muttered as he put his head in his hands.

“So anyway,” Plagg continued, “the Miraculous can change your appearance. You're pretty cool with what you look like so your skin colour only changes a little and your hair goes crazy, that's it. But like, what if Ladybug is Ladybug when she's Ladybug but not when she's  _ not _ Ladybug?”

Adrien groaned and lifted his head up. “I get what you're saying but not why you're saying it. Why bring it up now?”

“Well, you're all obsessed with these two girls, maybe it would make your head hurt less if you consider the implications? I don't know how to help, I don't feel emotions.”

“You mean the implications that Ladybug could be a guy? I know you're trying to help by making it seem like I only have one option, but it wouldn't make a difference to me.”

“Oh?”

Adrien sighed. “The day I met Ladybug, I told myself that I'd love whoever it is underneath that mask, and I meant it. Nothing changes who Ladybug is and nothing ever will. I'm crazy about Ladybug because of who Ladybug is.”

Plagg itched himself behind his ear and nodded. “You're right, Ladybug is Ladybug and Chat Noir is Chat Noir. Nothing's gonna change that. Can you deal with it though?”

Adrien didn't know. He still felt so torn about everything despite the pillow in his lap and his breakfast date tomorrow. How was he supposed to resolve everything on his own? Marinette was important to him, but so was his partner.

Ladybug said they would still be together, though. Not in the way he'd originally desired, but they would exist with each other. If he would trust his Lady with his life, he would believe her when she told him that they would still fly through the city together and fight crime and lounge about atop the Eiffel tower under the moon.

Adrien wanted too much.

And that was okay.

He wouldn't have it all in the end, he knew from experience that you never get everything you want. Sometimes you lose most of what you have before you find something that gives you meaning.

He could have love, if he would stop being an absolute moron about it.

He could have Marinette.

“I think I'll be okay, Plagg. I just need time.”

Plagg whizzed up in front of Adrien's face and patted him on the nose.

“Sure, kid. You got time. And you got me. I'm here to look out for you, never forget.”

Adrien nodded. Sometimes he wanted to flush Plagg down the toilet.

But not always.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) soon


End file.
